PMOI member Abbasali Ramezani murdered by regime forces in Mashhad

2026-01-25 - 21:06

Abbasali Ramezani, a 74-year-old former political prisoner and member of People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), was shot dead by the Iranian regime’s security forces in Mashhad’s Vakil Abad Boulevard during the latest wave of nationwide protests. The current protest wave began on December 28, 2025, after a sharp currency slide and rising prices, and then broadened into explicitly anti-government demonstrations in cities across Iran. Iranian authorities responded with mass arrests and increasingly lethal tactics, including using live ammunition against unarmed protesters. The regime has imposed an internet and telecommunications blackout imposed from January 8, 2026, while it is carrying out a massacre that has resulted in the death of several thousand civilians. A long-standing champion of freedom in Iran Abbasali had already spent decades paying the price for demanding freedom. He was repeatedly arrested and imprisoned for supporting the PMOI—first as a pro-democracy student supporter in the early years after 1979, then again in 1989, 1997, throughout the 2010s, and during the 2022 uprising. In the summer of 2011 Ramezani was arrested while he was attempting to hold a commemorative gathering near the tomb of Ferdowsi in Tus (near Mashhad) around the anniversary of “Forough Javidan” (Operation Eternal Light), the 1988 offensive of the National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA). He was detained and held for 222 days in solitary confinement in Mashhad’s Vakilabad Prison, under intense pressure and torture. Nonetheless, Ramezani remained active and in the years after 2011—marking PMOI/MEK anniversaries and expressing support for major protest flashpoints, including the 2021 water protests in Khuzestan. In one recorded clip, he chants a slogan widely heard in recent years: “Death to the oppressor—be it the Shah or the Supreme Leader,” signaling rejection of both monarchy and the current theocratic system. Iran Protests Update — Video of @Mojahedineng Martyr Abbasali Ramazani (Ramezani) “For the uprising and the regime’s overthrow, I am ready till the end.” These are the words of Abbasali Ramazani, spoken before he was killed by regime fire—now a martyr of Iran’s nationwide... https://t.co/ugBlxazaaG pic.twitter.com/3Wi1Wo8rMW — SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) January 18, 2026 In March 2023, a branch of the regime’s so-called Revolutionary Court in Khorasan Razavi province sentenced Ramezani to three years and seven months in prison. His allegations included: contact with PMOI, membership in the PMOI, photographing election lines, producing and installing PMOI banners, sending photos and videos to PMOI contacts, and providing support for the PMOI resistance Units. Ramezani was conditionally released in August 2024 due to heart disease, but was required to wear an electronic ankle monitor. In Vakilabad Boulevard, where he attended protests in January 2026, the regime’s security forces use lethal force in multiple locations during the crackdown.In the end, neither old age nor illness prevented him from continuing his fight for freedom. In one recorded clip, Abbasali’s promise rings out: “Ready, ready, ready—for the uprising and overthrow.” He gave his live for freedom in the streets of Mashhad, where his memory and legacy lives on in the youth who continue to fight for freedom and to overthrow the mullahs’ dictatorship.