Executed during 1988 massacre of political prisoners.
Monireh Rajavi, the younger sister of the Iranian Resistance’s Leader, Massoud Rajavi, was executed on Khomeini’s order along with the 30,000 victims of the regime’s political massacre in summer 1988.
Monireh was arrested along with her husband and her daughters only because she was Massoud Rajavi’s sister. Khomeini’s henchmen held special spite towards Monireh Rajavi, humiliating and insulting her because she was Massoud Rajavi’s sister. Monireh was imprisoned and tortured six years in Evin Prison under horrendous conditions in the presence of her two young daughters and after the execution of her husband.
While in captivity, she was under tremendous pressure to denounce his brother on television, but refused to do so, prompting the authorities to execute her in 1988 as an act of vengeance against Massoud Rajavi.
Upon learning of the execution of his sister, Massoud Rajavi said: “Naturally, it is very painful to hear the news of execution of one’s younger sister. However, I have had thousands and tens of thousands of these sisters who perished in Khomeini’s dungeons after years of torture. I think my sister was honored to be among those who were martyred to the cause of freedom of their people and country after years of incarceration.
“Obviously, my sister’s sacrifice is no different from that of my other sisters and brothers. You surely remember that my wife Ashraf and my brother Moussa also paved the same path for the cause of freedom. What I’d like to point out is that as far as the Mojahedin are concerned, they have never hesitated in sacrificing thousands upon thousands like Ashraf, Moussa and Monireh despite tremendous agony and pain. Therefore, my sister is one out of thousands and thousands of heroes who sacrificed their lives for freedom and liberation of our enchained nation. And of course, this only adds to the honor and pride of the Mojahedin and my own.”
Monireh Rajavi studied literature at the University of Mashhad when she left Iran for Britain to continue her studies. Initially, she went to Midland College and subsequently to the University of New Castle.
She left Iran with the goal of exposing the crimes of the Shah’s regime on the international level in an effort to save the lives of Iranian political prisoners, including her brother Massoud who was on the death row. Monireh became a member of Amnesty International and joined a number of other Iranian students to form the “Committee against Repression in Iran.” They published several pamphlets about the conditions of Iranian political prisoners, including a pamphlet entitled “Free Massoud Rajavi.”
Prof. Kazem Rajavi, who was assassinated in 1990, devoted dozens of pages of bis 1,100- page documentary book on the efforts to save Massoud’s life to Monireh’s endeavors and letters she had written to British MPs and Amnesty International. Amnesty International wrote back to Monireh, giving her assurances that it would not cease its efforts until Massoud was freed from jail.
Monireh Rajavi (center in white dress) and her husband, Asghar Nazem (right) at their wedding with the Rajavi brothers. Standing behind Monireh is Professor Kazem Rajavi. Asghar was executed in 1985. Monireh was tortured in front of her two small daughters and became the symbol of 30,000 political prisoners when executed in the 1988 massacre.