Torab Haghsehnas

Torab Haghshenas was an Iranian revolutionary, author and translator. Haghshenas who was notably the only People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) leader with seminary education, sided with the group's Marxist faction in 1975 and co-founded the Organization of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class in 1979.

Early life and education Haghshenas was born into a religious family in 1942 in the city of Jahrom. He completed school in his birthplace and went to Qom to study Arabic and Islamic theology in seminary.

Haghshenas was on the first batch of MEK members who were sent to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) camps for guerilla training. In 1970, he spent months in PLO camps in Lebanon and Jordan, starting in June. He survived the blow to the organization in 1971 because he was on a mission abroad. Haghshenas also acted as a liaison with other Iranian dissidents abroad, including the Confederation of Iranian Students, various factions of the National Front, as well as a circle of Ruhollah Khomeini disciples in Iraq who emerged as the Combatant Clergy Association. Haghshenas married Pouran Bazargan, the widow of MEK co-founder Mohammad Hanifnejad, in 1974. In 1975, played a key role in the birth of a Marxist faction within the MEK.

After the Iranian Revolution, he was a leading figure in the Organization of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class, which he had co-founded.

Death

Haghshenas died on 27 January 2016