Ahead of the 61st anniversary of the founding of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), Resistance Units in Zahedan carried out a campaign of installing banners and displaying leaflets across the city, marking the occasion with messages about the organization’s history, its founders, and its struggle against dictatorship.
The activities took place ahead of September 6, 2026, the anniversary of the PMOI’s founding. The banners carried messages from Maryam Rajavi and Massoud Rajavi, celebrated the organization’s founders, and highlighted slogans including “61 years of struggle,” “neither Shah nor Sheikh,” and calls for freedom and a democratic republic.
September 4—Zahedan
Resistance Units celebrate the 61st anniversary of the founding of PMOI/MEK, defying the regime's repressive measures and wave of executions and arrests. pic.twitter.com/aGZsoDP5sF— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) September 5, 2026
Through the campaign, Resistance Units presented the anniversary not simply as a commemoration of the organization’s past but as a statement about its ongoing struggle inside Iran.
Sixty-one years of struggle against the Shah and the clerical regime
A central theme of the Zahedan activities was the PMOI’s 61-year history of opposition to successive dictatorships.
One banner declared: “The PMOI means 61 years of ‘neither Shah nor mullahs,’ resistance and steadfastness, sacrifice and selflessness, struggle and perseverance.” Another described the organization’s history as “61 years of relentless and uninterrupted struggle against the dictatorships of the Shah and mullahs.”
Other messages connected that history directly to the political objectives promoted by the Resistance Units today. Among them were “No Shah, no mullahs—freedom and a democratic republic,” “We want neither Shah nor mullahs; curse the dictators,” and “From Zahedan to Tehran, death to the oppressor, be it the Shah or the Supreme Leader.”
"The PMOI is symbolized by honesty and self-sacrifice" pic.twitter.com/stxK9xm5NM
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) September 5, 2026
The campaign also carried messages describing the PMOI as a guarantee for “freedom and popular sovereignty” and as a guide for the “generation of uprising in the streets.” Together, these slogans frame the anniversary as a political line extending from opposition to the Shah’s dictatorship to the struggle against the current clerical regime.
“Honesty and sacrifice” and the legacy of the founders
The banners also repeatedly returned to the principles associated with the PMOI’s founding.
The organization was founded on September 6, 1965, by Mohammad Hanifnejad, Saeid Mohsen, and Ali Asghar Badizadegan during a period of severe political repression under the Shah. The PMOI’s founders concluded that the struggle for freedom required a permanent organization and that political struggle had to be approached systematically and professionally.
"From Zahedan to Tehran, down with the oppressor, be it the shah or the Supreme Leader" pic.twitter.com/L4HETGgk7K
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) September 5, 2026
This history provides the context for a prominent message displayed in Zahedan: “The great achievement of the organization’s founders was establishing an organization with honesty and sacrifice as its guiding principles.” Other banners declared that “honesty and sacrifice” had effectively been written over the entrance of the PMOI during its 61-year history.
“Neither Shah nor Sheikh” remains a recurring message in Zahedan
The anniversary campaign also builds on messages that Resistance Units have repeatedly displayed in Zahedan during recent months.
On August 28, Resistance Units displayed placards declaring, “A dictator is a dictator, whether with a turban or a crown” and “No to mullahs, no to shah. Yes to freedom and a democratic republic.” The PMOI described those activities as part of a recurring campaign rejecting both clerical rule and restoration of monarchy.
Similar activities on June 12 included “100 years of crimes by the monarchy and the mullahs” and “From Zahedan to Tehran, death to the oppressor, be it the Shah or the Supreme Leader.”
"No to shah, no to mullahs, yes to freedom and a democratic republic" pic.twitter.com/Z5rxDhqHXY
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) September 5, 2026
The anniversary slogan “61 years, neither Shah nor mullahs” therefore places a recurring message of the Zahedan Resistance Units within the PMOI’s broader historical narrative: rejection of both forms of dictatorship and advocacy of a democratic republic.
A message from a city marked by resistance
The activities also carry particular significance in Zahedan, a city that became one of the prominent centers of protest during the 2022 nationwide uprising.
On September 30, 2022, regime security forces opened fire on protesters in Zahedan, killing or injuring many as demonstrations and clashes spread through the city. Resistance Unit activities have continued in Zahedan in the years since, with campaigns regularly carrying anti-regime and democratic-republic slogans.
Against this backdrop, the latest banners and leaflets turn the PMOI’s 61st anniversary into a message about the present. By connecting the founders’ principles, six decades of struggle, the rejection of both Shah and clerical dictatorship, and calls for a democratic republic, the Resistance Units are presenting the PMOI’s history as a struggle that remains active on Iran’s streets.