Mousa khiabani biography of georgetown

Iranian political activist and militant (1947–1982)

Mousa Nasiroghli (Khiabani) (Persian: موسی نصیر اوغلی (خیابانی); 1947 – 8 February 1982) 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 1979 to 1982, 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-1979 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 1947,^[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 s