Massoud Rajavi
Massoud Rajavi (Persian: مسعود رجوی, born 18 August 1948) is the president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran ("NCRI") and the Secretary-General of People's Mujahedin of Iran ("PMOI"), popularly known as the "MEK" for "Mujahadeen-e-Khalq", an opposition organization active inside and outside of Iran. After leaving Iran in 1981, he resided in France and Iraq. Since the American 2003 invasion of Iraq, he has not made any public appearances.
Biography
Massoud Rajavi is a graduate of political law from Tehran University. He joined the MEK when he was 20 and a law student at Tehran University. Later on he was arrested by SAVAK (the Shah's secret police) and was sentenced to death. Due to efforts by his brother, Professor Kazem Rajavi, Amnesty International, the International Committee of the Red Cross, as well as François Mitterrand and others, he was not executed. He was released from prison during the Iranian revolution in 1979. (His brother Kazem Rajavi was assassinated in 1990 in Geneva by Iran's mullahs.)