Mehdi Abrishamchi | |
Birth Place: | Tehran, Imperial State of Iran (present day Iran) |
Organization: | People's Mujahedin of Iran |
Spouse: | |
Alma Mater: | University of Tehran |
Mehdi Abrishamchi (Persian: مهدی ابریشمچی born in 1947 in Tehran) is an Iranian dissident political leader and high-ranking member of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK).[1] [2]
Abrishamchi came from a well-known anti-Shah bazaari family in Tehran, and participated in the June 5, 1963, demonstrations in Iran. He became a member of Hojjatieh, and left it to join the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) in 1969. In 1972 he was imprisoned for being a MEK member, and spent time in jail until 1979.
Shortly after the Iranian Revolution, he became one of the senior members of the MEK. He is now an official in the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
Abrishamchi was married to Maryam Rajavi from 1980 to 1985, when he divorced her so that she could marry Massoud Rajavi, then leader of the MEK, and became co-leader alongside him. Shortly after, Abrishamchi married another MEK leader Mousa Khiabani's younger sister Azar.
Abrishamchi credited Massoud Rajavi for saving the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran after the "great schism".