Pouran Bazargan

Pourandokht "Pouran" Bazargan was an Iranian teacher, revolutionary and translator. She was notably the first female member of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK).

Biography

Bazargan was born to a middle-class family in the city of Mashhad and was brought up as a devout Muslim. As an adult she became principal of Refah School, a girls school in Tehran. Bazargan joined the MEK as its first female member, and married Mohammad Hanifnejad, a co-founder of the group.

Bazargan left Iran in 1981 after government crackdowns of political activists, and resided in a number of countries, including Syria, Lebanon and Turkey, to act as a liaison for the group. In exile, Bazargan translated many works from French, English and Arabic with her husband Torab Haghshenas and launched a website name Peykar Andisheh. The couple espoused a more internationalist view and became critical of armed struggle because they believed guerrilla movements were isolated from the workers' movement.

Bazargan died of a "long illness" on 6 March 2007.