Majid Sharif-Vaghefi ( fa, مجید شریف واقفی, 1949–1975) was a leading member of the

People's Mujahedin of Iran The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) or Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) ( fa, سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران, sâzmân-e mojâhedīn-e khalq-e īrân), is an Iranian pol ...

(MEK) who was murdered in an internal

purge In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another organization, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertak ...

staged by the MEK Marxist faction. One of the three members of the MEK's

central committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

from 1972 to 1975, he was considered the leader of the group's Muslim faction that refused to accept

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

Early life and background

He came from a "highly devout middle-class family" and was raised in

Isfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...

and

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

. He studied electrical engineering at Aryamehr University of Technology, and became a member of the MEK while he was studying on a scholarship in

Abadan Abadan ( fa, آبادان ''Ābādān'', ) is a city and capital of Abadan County, Khuzestan Province, which is located in the southwest of Iran. It lies on Abadan Island ( long, 3–19 km or 2–12 miles wide). The island is bounded ...

's technical college.

Murder

By the spring of 1975, when the majority of the MEK turned to Marxism, he was given an ultimatum by the other two members of the central committee who became Marxists,

Taghi Shahram Taqi or Taghi ( fa, تقی, translit=Taqī, az, Tağı) is a male Arabic given name and surname. It may refer to: Compound forms given on further disambiguation pages *Mohammad Taqi (disambiguation) *Taqi al-Din (disambiguation) Early imams *Muh ...

and Bahram Aram, to accept the new ideology. In order to "raise his political consciousness", he was given the chance to choose between a move to the MEK

cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life Cell may also refer to: Locations * Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery ...

Mashhad Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of R ...

, leaving the country or to work in factories for a while. Sharif-Vaghefi pretended that he wanted to go to Mashhad, but instead moved some of the MEK arms and equipment to a new hiding place and tried to organize the part of the MEK that resisted the ideology change. His wife, part of the Marxist faction, provided Shahram and Aram with information on his activities. Mainly on Shahram's initiative, Sharif-Vaghefi was killed and his body was immolated and dumped outside the city.

SAVAK SAVAK ( fa, ساواک, abbreviation for ''Sâzemân-e Ettelâ'ât va Amniat-e Kešvar'', ) was the secret police, domestic security and intelligence service in Iran during the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty. SAVAK operated from 1957 until prime ...

managed to find the remnants of the body.

Legacy

Following the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

, the place he studied was renamed to "

Sharif University of Technology Sharif University of Technology (SUT; fa, دانشگاه صنعتی شریف) is a public research university in Tehran, Iran. It is widely considered as the nation's most prestigious and leading institution for science, technology, engineering, ...

" in his honour. He is still celebrated as a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

by the Iranian government.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharif Vaghefi, Majid 1949 births 1975 deaths Early People's Mujahedin of Iran members Iranian murder victims People murdered in Iran Iranian revolutionaries People assassinated by the People's Mujahedin of Iran Sharif University of Technology alumni