Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, January 12, 2021—People across Iran mourned and paid tribute to the brave Iranian Resistance pilot Colonel Behzad Mo’ezzi, who passed away on Sunday, January 11, from leukemia in a hospital in Paris. Mo’ezzi flew the Iranian Resistance leader Massoud Rajavi from the first fighter Air Force Base in Tehran to Paris in 1981, at a time when the regime was hunting the resistance leader. Mo’ezzi had said on several occasions that he considered his flight with Massoud Rajavi as the most important flight of his life.
Colonel Mo’ezzi was the most experienced pilot of the Iranian airforce after the 1979 revolution. He joined the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) after the anti-monarchy revolution. He was also a member of the MEK delegation in the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) coalition.
For more than 42 years, he relentlessly dedicated his life to the struggle against the mullahs’ religious tyranny and became the symbol of loyalty to the cause of freedom and a brilliant model of uncompromising struggle against the Shah and mullahs’ regimes.
“Colonel Behzad Mo’ezzi, the heroic Mojahed pilot who never gave up hope on the return flight to Tehran, has now reached new heights, joining the martyrs who fell for freedom. May he rest in peace. There is no doubt that the courageous youth in Iran, the patriotic and revolutionary servicemen in the military and the Air Force, will realize his hope,” said Maryam Rajavi, NCRI’s President-elect, in her message on the passing of Mo’ezzi and expressed her gratitude for his heroism, loyalty, and great service.
Col. Behzad Mo’ezzi was the most prominent Iranian pilot and member of the National Council of Resistance of #Iran. I extend my condolences and deepest sympathies to his family and relatives, and particularly to his daughter, Sara, and son, Amir, in Paris. #عقاب_تیزپرواز_ایران pic.twitter.com/uYdS6wiG6N
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) January 10, 2021
The news came while Simaye Azadi (INTV), the satellite television channel of the Iranian Resistance, was in the middle of a telethon fundraiser campaign. Following his passing, people across the country called the program and paid tribute and respect for his long service for Iran. People sent messages of solidarity from various cities that resonated: “Hail to the brave pilot Behzad Mo’ezzi, he was the pride of the Air Force and military personnel and MEK sympathizers.”
Also, the Iranian Resistance Units, the network of the MEK inside Iran, organized a simultaneous campaign supporting the INTV telethon. In cities checkered across Iran, the Resistance Units installed banners, handwritten slogans, and messages in support of the INTV that read the “INTV is the voice of Iran protests, of freedom-loving people of Iran living under mullahs’ repression, and a hope for victory in darkness.”
Their activities were organized in Tehran, Shiraz, Mashhad, Tabriz, Bushehr, Rasht, Anzali, Amol, Bandar Anzali, Karaj, Hamadan, Yazd, Farouj (North Khorrassan), Najaf Abad, Natanz, Ghasre Shirin, Kurdistan, Dehdasht, Khorramshahr, Abadan, Qazvin, Sanandaj, Ilam, Fereydoun City, Lamerd, Sabzevar, Robat Karim, Sari, Gilan, Kerman, Shahroud, Nishabur, Bandar Abbas, Gonbad, and Arak.
This is the 25th telethon for INTV, where Iranians lend their financial and moral support for the movement’s struggle for freedom.
The program started on Friday, December 8, and will continue for three days. Many of the calls made to the program were from inside Iran, with callers risking arrest for expressing support for the Iranian opposition. In the past, the regime has charged financial support for the MEK as enmity against God and punished it with executions.
On June 1, 2014, a MEK supporter, Gholamreza Khosravi was arrested and executed for providing financial support for the INTV.
Also, in a letter sent from the Evin prison, a group of political prisoners expressed their support for the 25th telethon.
