Zeinab Ghahhari was constantly harassed because of her support for the PMOI/MEK
Zeinab Ghahhari, known as Mother Merrikhi, passed away in the northern city of Qaemshahr, Mazandaran province, in mid-February 2024.
Zeinab Qahhari was born in 1941.
She was the mother of Zahra Merrikhi, the Secretary General of the opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), and the fallen PMOI member, Ali Merrikhi Ahangari.
Under the Shah’s regime, she was repeatedly summoned by the Shah’s secret police, SAVAK, and interrogated because of her husband’s political activities.
She was active and well-known in the anti-Shah demonstrations in Qaemshahr during the 1979 Revolution.
In the early years of the 1979 revolution, when political activities were still not completely banned by the clerical regime, her Qaemshahr home was used as a headquarters by the PMOI for their anti-regime activities. For this reason, her home was constantly attacked and invaded by the regime’s agents.
In later years, when Khomeini was the regime’s Supreme Leader, she was known for her unwavering support of the PMOI in Qaemshahr. She encouraged her son Ali to join the PMOI’s ranks.
Her brother-in-law, Colonel Khodaverdi Panahi, was killed during the 1988 massacre of PMOI political prisoners in Qaemshahr.
She was harassed, arrested and tortured for some time because of her secret trips abroad and to Iraq, where the PMOI were stationed.
This brave woman, who was role model for women and girls in Qaemshahr, finally passed away in mid-February 2024, after 45 years of perseverance in her support for the PMOI.