Azar Majedi: A Brief Biography

Azar Majedi is born in Iran, she has finished her university education abroad and returned to Iran at the time of the revolution against the monarchy in 1978. She became active both politically and in defence of women’s rights while a university student.

Since 1978 she has devoted her life to fighting against the dictatorial regimes in Iran, first the monarchy and then Islamic Republic, fighting for freedom and equality, fighting for women’s rights. She was active in all the demonstrations to oppose the restrictions the Islamic Republic was imposing on women. She organised an 8 March celebration in 1979.She wrote and translated articles and pamphlets in defence of women’s rights.

In 1982 when the Islamic Republic had begun brutal attacks against all the left and opposition groups, torturing and killing thousands, she and her husband were forced to escape from the security forces, and left for Kurdistan. Azar continued her activities, working in a clandestine left Radio as a producer-broadcaster, working as a member of editorial board of a left journal.

Azar moved to Europe in 1984. There she continued her activities both as a women’s’ rights activist and as a political activist against the Islamic Republic. She has worked with the International Campaign for the Defence of Women’s Rights in Iran. She co-founded the Center for Women and Socialism. She has published many articles in different journals. She has both organized and participated in different international conferences relating to women’s rights issues, political Islam, and wider political issues. She has worked in alternative media, she is the editor of Medusa, a journal dealing with women’s issues, for 3 years from 1999-2002, she was the director of Radio International, a radio broadcasting into Iran,

which can also be heard in Europe and on the internet.

Azar has written numerous articles on women’s issues, social and political questions. Many of her articles have been published in various international web sites. She has been interviewed by various international media, BBC, Voice of America, International Herald Tribune, Time magazine, More 4 channel news; she has appeared on ITV, “It’s my life” show on the issue of freedom of speech.

She founded the Organization for Women’s Liberation - Iran in November

2002, and at present is acting as its chair. She has also founded Mansoor Hekmat foundation in July 2002. Azar produces and hosts several TV programmes in Farsi and English on New Channel TV, a satellite TV broadcasting into Iran, which can also be seen on the internet. On of her programmes is called No to Political Islam. She publishes a journal called Reflections - political and personal and has many international speaking engagements. She is a member of WPI leadership. Azar lives in England with her 3 children.

Updated July 2006-07

.