Massoud Rajavi was born in 1947 in the small town of Tabas, in northeastern Iran. In 1966, after earning his bachelor’s degree in political law from Tehran University, he joined a small group of aspiring university students who would later form the nucleus of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK Iran). Mr. Rajavi became a member of the group’s leadership several years later. He was a key contributor to its early discussions on history, philosophy, political theory, and religion, culminating in the MEK Iran’s modern and tolerant interpretation of Islam. He became a candidate for Iran’s presidency in early 1980 offering a platform that promoted freedom of speech and religion, equal rights for women and separation of church and state, but one week before the election, his participation was blocked by Khomeini. t various stages in the journey that has become MEK Iran's history, Massoud Rajavi has led it with integrity, courage, and the steadfast belief in the ideals of the small group of young, freedom-loving university students and intellectuals who formed the only Muslim revolutionary movement in Iranian history, committed to guiding the nation to a free and democratic future.