Details Emerge in Death of MKO Ringleader Massoud Rajavi

An informed security source told Tasnim that the notorious former ringleader of the MKO terrorists, Massoud Rajavi, died three years ago after a period of illness and having a heart attack.

After the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Rajavi sustained serious injuries to his leg and face during an American operation, which is why he disappeared from public appearance until his death.

Rajavi had reportedly fled Iraq to Jordan, where he developed diabetes and high blood pressure. The hated figure’s fear of being identified was preventing him from receiving treatment in medical centers.

As Rajavi’s health deteriorated, he lost his sight and one of his legs was amputated.

In the early 2010s, as the pressures from the Iraqi popular forces mounted on the MKO terrorists and Iran launched attacks on the camp Ashraf of the terrorist group, the MKO forces made every effort to flee from Iraq. However, their relocation to Albania required their exclusion from the list of terrorists designated by the US and the UK. One of the conditions set by the US for the MKO to be excluded from the blacklist was the non-appearance of Massoud Rajavi in meetings and events. The US had urged that even his pictures should not be released.

While one of the American plans for the MKO terrorists was to settle them down in several Asian, African and European countries and considering that the conditions for the MKO forces had become very critical in Iraq, the MKO leaders accepted the conditions for collective relocation to a European state.

The informed source said Massoud Rajavi had been kept under US security guard in an unspecified location until his death. A series of evidence suggests that he had been hidden in the US.

Abbas Shakeri, a physician born in Iran and operating under the alias Dr. Fazel, was in charge of the treatment of Massoud Rajavi before his transfer to the US.

Shakeri, who fled Iran to Iraq in 1986 to join the MKO terrorist group, is now residing in France with a passport under the false identity Ziaedin Abdolrazaghi.

Apart from Shakeri, a number of other insiders, such as the masseur of Rajavi and his bodyguards, have been relocated to a number of European countries since 2021.

The source concluded that the occasional statements released under the name of Massoud Rajavi are meant to revive his so-called savior character in the eyes of the MKO terrorists, which is why the old pictures of the slain ringleader are displayed with the MKO statements.

MKO members spent many years in Iraq, where they were hosted and armed by the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. They sided with Saddam during the 1980-88 imposed war against Iran and then helped him quell domestic uprisings in various parts of the Arab country.

The hated group is responsible for killing thousands of Iranian civilians and officials after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

More than 17,000 Iranians, many of them civilians, have been killed at the hands of the MKO in different acts of terrorism including bombings in public places, and targeted killings.