Mousa khiabani biography definition

Iranian political activist and militant (–)

Mousa Nasiroghli (Khiabani) (Persian: موسی نصیر اوغلی (خیابانی); – 8 February ) was an Iranian dissident political leader and senior member of the People's Mojahedin of Iran (MEK) and the commander of its armed wing from to , when he was killed in action.^[1]

Khiabani has been described as "Massoud Rajavi's right-hand man"^[2] and "second-in-command".^[3]

According to Ervand Abrahamian, along with Rajavi, Khiabani acted as the organization's post spokesman and was viewed as equal to Rajavi by the outsiders, despite the fact that MEK insiders knew Rajavi to be pre-eminent.^[2]

Life and career

Khiabani was born into a merchant family in Tabriz in ,^[4] he frequently participated in the Moharram rituals.^[2] He studied physics at the University of Tehran.^[4] Trained in guerilla warfare in Lebanon,^[2] he was sentenced to life imprisonment in fo