[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 24, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E546]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO MRS. FATEMEH AZODANLOO

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 24, 1999

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to bring to my colleagues 
attention the attached remarks on the condolences to the Rajavi and 
Azodanloo families, particularly to Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, Iran's 
President-elect, at their loss.

       With great regret, I learned of the death of Mrs. Fatemeh 
     Azodanloo at the age of 75. I offer my condolences to the 
     Rajavi and Azodanloo families, particularly to Mrs. Maryam 
     Rajavi, Iran's President-elect, at their loss. For the past 
     25 years, Mrs. Azodanloo was a comrade in arms in her 
     daughter's struggle for human rights and democracy.
       During both the shah and Khomeini eras, Mrs. Azodanloo was 
     a firm supporter of the Resistance to establish democracy and 
     human rights in Iran. She and her family were subjected to 
     constant abuse by the shah's officers and the theocratic 
     mullahs. In the early 70s, her son Mahmood was arrested for 
     cooperating with the Mojahedin by Savak--the vicious secrete 
     police of the shah. Until the overthrow of the shah, she was 
     harassed and her house raided by Savak and its notorious 
     officers on many occasions.
       She came to know other Mojahedin family members during her 
     visits to Mahmoud in the shah's prisons. Along with them, she 
     began to expose the violation of human rights by the shah and 
     to raise money for the families of political prisoners. 
     During this period, her daughter Nargess, was arrested and 
     later on executed by Savak. In the early 1970s, her daughter 
     Maryam along with her other children made contact with the 
     Mojahedin and began working for their democratic, 
     humanitarian goals and ideals. During this period Mrs. 
     Azodanloo helped her daughter Maryam, who had become a leader 
     of the anti-shah student movement and a women's rights 
     activist.
       After the downfall of the shah in February 1979, the 
     Azodanloo family home became known in Tehran as a center for 
     exposing Khomeini's religious dictatorship. Mrs. Azodanloo 
     expanded her efforts to spread the Mojahedin's ideas in 
     defense of human rights and democracy. She took every 
     opportunity to expose Khomeini and his despotism under the 
     name of Islam. She was also active during her daughter 
     Maryam's candidacy in the first parliamentary elections, in 
     which she received 250,000 votes despite rampant rigging.
       On June 20, 1981, in response to the Mojahedin's call, half 
     a million people demonstrated in Tehran. The protest against 
     violations of democratic rights was turned into a blood bath 
     on Khomeini's order. From that night, the massacre of members 
     and supporters of the democratic forces, particularly the 
     Mojahedin, began. It was absolutely clear that the era of 
     political activity had ended, and resistance was the only 
     option. From then on, Mrs. Azodanloo, despite nearly 60, 
     embraced an underground life. Despite the repressive 
     atmosphere in Tehran, she lived in the Resistance's bases, 
     obtaining necessary supplies and drawing up security plans.
       At this time, her youngest daughter, Massoumeh, was wounded 
     in an armed attack by Revolutionary Guards, who ambushed her 
     house in order to arrest her and her husband. She was 
     pregnant when arrested. She was brutally tortured, and at the 
     age of 23 in September 1982, died under torture. Her husband, 
     Massoud Izadkhah, was executed.
       Despite her sorrow, Mrs. Azodanloo never gave up, and 
     persisted in her resistance, encouraging the Mojahedin in 
     their struggle. She remained among the movement's staunchest 
     supporters, throughout the most difficult of times.
       Mrs. Fatemeh Azodanloo escaped from Iran in 1985. She 
     remained active on behalf of the Resistance outside Iran, and 
     always held dear the resistance forces inside Iran and in the 
     National Liberation Army on the Iran-Iraq border. At her 
     request, a few months prior to her death, she left Paris for 
     one of the NLA's bases on the Iran-Iraq border, where she 
     died in the company of her children and grandchildren.

     

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