Mojahed (Persian: مجاهد, romanized: Mujāhid, lit. 'The [holy] warrior') is the official newspaper of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), first printed in 1979 on a weekly basis. The newspaper published its last issue inside Iran on 30 June 1981 and after a hiatus resumed publication in exile on 2 December 1982.
Mojahed (Persian: مجاهد, romanized: Mujāhid, lit. 'The [holy] warrior') is the official newspaper of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), first printed in 1979 on a weekly basis. The newspaper published its last issue inside Iran on 30 June 1981 and after a hiatus resumed publication in exile on 2 December 1982.
History
Mojahed staff spent months to prepare for launching it, before it was first published in late July 1979.[3] The paper was used to publicize the MEK's political campaigns and programs.[4] While trying to suppress the MEK, the Iranian regime banned the Mojahed on 2 November 1980 on orders of the Chief Prosecutor who said the paper was "spreading slanderous lies". However, it continued to print via clandestine printing press and was distributed underground.[5] According to Dilip Hiro, the newspaper sold about 30,000 copies by mid-1981.[6]Ervand Abrahamian said that Mojahed's circulation had surpassed Jomhouri-e Eslami of the Islamic Republican Party and reached 500,000 around the same time.[7]
After exile, the MEK established printing presses both in Europe and North America and in December 1982, the newspaper reappeared.[8] In 1983, Mojahed became available throughout an international network in several capitals and in some issues contained over seventy newsprint pages.[1] Members of the MEK were encouraged to read the publication in their spare time.[9] As of 2000, the newspaper continued publication for the MEK's cadre.[10]
In June 2003, French police raided the MEK in France and also banned publications of the Mojahed.[11] Group members denied any wrongdoing and accused French intelligence of working with the Iranian government to tarnish the group.[12]
Content
Ervand Abrahamian said that the MEK used the Mojahed paper to move "the issue of democracy to centre stage" and to accuse the Iranian regime, which it described as a "dictatorship of mullahs", of "betraying the Islamic Revolution".[13]
Hiro, Dilip (2013), Iran Under the Ayatollahs (Routledge Revivals), Routledge, ISBN978-1135043810
Howard, Roger (2004), Iran in Crisis?: Nuclear Ambitions and the American Response, Zed Books, ISBN9781848137110
Buchta, Wilfried (2000), "The Militant Iranian Opposition in Iran and Exile", Who Rules Iran?: The Structure of Power in the Islamic Republic, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, The Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, ISBN9780944029398
