Massoud Rajavi and his followers - branded "communists" by the Shah and "infidels" by Ayatollah - had laboured long and hard for a revolution in Iran - a revolution they finally won after years of oppression at the hands of the Shah and his secret police. Massoud's followers were regularly imprisoned, tortured and killed. Their crime was daring to question the Shah's position as supreme ruler - a man who inherited the Peacock throne for no other reason than his military-leader father previously took power with British help.

The Shah followed Western principles of Capitalism but rather neglected his duties to Islam. Hence, he faced opposition from religious leaders as well as from Socialists, who were demanding a fairer distribution of Iran's immense oil-wealth. In the Shah's day (and still to this very day), Iranian people suffered a major divide in terms of the "haves" and "have-nots", the situation was and is, very similar to the divide currently visible in South Africa, where a majority of South Africans live in dire poverty, while a relative minority live in comparative luxury. Not surprising then, that at some piont during the 60's, a man like Massoud Rajavi should step forward - giving voice to Socialism and Democracy in Iran.

It was easy for the Shah to brand him a Communist working on behalf of Russian spies; the cold war with Russia gave the Shah a free-reign to cruelly persecute anyone who dared to follow Mr Rajavi. People like Maryam Rajavi's elder sister, who was arrested and shot by the Shah's secret police. Massoud was no Russian Communist, for a start he considers himself a devout Muslim and indeed, it was through gaining a deeper understanding of Islam that he discovered Socialism as a valid and necessary force in defeating Capitalists and their wanton disregard for anything but personal profit. He realised that the Shah himself, was little more than a terrorist's son and one who was now a dictator.

Despite eventually toppling the Shah, Massoud's efforts amounted to nothing; the West, anxious to deny an Islamic-Socialist any chance of power in oil-rich Iran, quickly ferried in the fanatical Khomeni, who had previously living in exile in France. He lost no time in arming his "Revolutionary" Guard, who with equal haste, began terrorising the Iranian people in their efforts to finally crush Mr Rajavi and his followers. During this period, Maryam Rajavi lost another sister - she was tortured and eventually shot by Khomeni's regime. The fact she was pregnant did not delay her execution.

Maryam, soon followed in her sisters footsteps and quickly rose through the ranks of the ILF. She eventually convinced Massoud that women's rights must be at the forefront of any Islamic-Socialist alliance and quoting from the Koran, she proved that Islam does support progress and change, because the Koran asks Muslims to abandon old ways and traditions when new knowledge proves them detrimental to human development.

With a small army and arsenal at their disposal, Massoud and his followers were forced into exile on the Iran-Iraq border, where for awhile, they fought against Khomeni alongside Iraqi troops. This didn't bode well for them in Iran, where people were losing sons in what Khomeni called the "holy war". What wasn't reported was that hundreds of Iranians defected to Massoud and his followers, bringing with them yet more weapons and military equipment i.e. tanks etc. With nowhere else to go, the ILF and their army had little choice but to remain in the Iraq desert, where Saddam offered them refuge only in return for their being a small deterent against further attack from Iranian troops.

With a firm base from which to work, Massoud & Maryam married, with Maryam being elected leader of the ILF soon after. Half the ILF were women, women who operated and maintained tanks and other military weapons, women who worked hard throughout the world to gain publicity and support for their cause. Maryam began giving lectures on Massoud's new interpretation of Islam, spreading a message of renewal and the idea that Islam and Socialism are one and the same. A very new and dynamic ideology and one that had to be crushed at all costs if Western interests were to remain satisfied in the Middle-East.

Despite gaining support from many UK and European MP's, the Rajavis, were branded a "terrorist" organisation in the late 90's, yet they've never taken part in any terrorist activities and neither have they ever threatened Western populations - they simply begged for support. Since the time of the invasian of Iraq, there as been no news whatsoever of the ILF. The last reports I heard of Mr & Mrs Rajavi (2002) were that Massoud was missing - presumed dead and that Maryam was under house-arrest in France being threatened with deportation back to iran, where she faced exectution for crimes against the Iranian Regime. The reports of her plight found publicity only because one ILF supporter set herself on fire in Paris in protest against Maryam's deportation.

What happened to the Rajavis, is no different than to what happened to Chevez, who fortunately has since overcome his oppressors. But our major concern has to be with UK and other Western leaders decision to brand the ILF "terrorists", when in fact they are in direct opposition to the religious fundamentalism now running amok throughout he world. This fundamentalism is the "darling" of Western Capitalist interests - already they've used the threat of religious terrorism as an excuse to limit people's personal freedoms and as grounds for invading Afghanistan & Iraq. We're bombarded daily with media images of religious extremists to the extent the Islam & Terrorism are promoted as two sides of the same coin. This dualistic approach is not only deceiving, it is a well-planned strategy which has denied any publicity to the likes of the Rajavis and the ILF.

The Iranian Regime now in power is one built on severe oppression, torture and death; almost 200,000 Iranian citizens were executed in the first two years of Ayotollah's rule. People used to living quite Westernised Life-styles in terms of education for girls etc. (but only upper-classes the majority poor remained largely uneducated), were suddenly expected to step back a hundred years; revolutionary guards patrolled the streets wiping lipstick off women, except the cotton-wool balls contained razor blades. One man and his wife were travelling home late at night from a family party - the revolutionary guard stopped the car and seeing the wife wearing make-up, they arrested her as a "prostitute". The husband had to travel hundreds of miles to his parents home to pick-up their marriage certificate which the guards assured him, was the only means for her release. He finally arrived at the Jail with the certificate only to be informed his wife had been "shot with the other prostitutes" earlier that morning. Under antiquated Islamic "law" 13 year-old girls are deemed "fit-for-marriage" in this day and age, such a law is nothing less than State-endorsed paedophilia with thousands of young girls forced into marriage/rape and if they run away, they're accused of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning.

This situation is very similar in Saudi-Arabia where women are arrested simply for driving a car. Yet for some reason, a Saudi King is accepted into the UK on a State-visit and has the audacity to complain that Britain's not doing enough to combat Islamic Terrorism! The Wahabee Islamic philosophy forms the foundation of Islamic fundamentalism, which demands a literal interpretation of the Koran and which insists all Muslims must learn Arabic and that the Koran must be read in Arabic. The problem is that a majority of Wahabee followers know how to read in Arabic, but have no idea of what the words actually mean - a scenario no different to early Roman-Catholic's insistence that the bible only be printed and read in Latin. The Wahabee philosophy forms the back-bone of all Islamic fundamentalism and Saudi-Arabia is its biggest promoter. The Saudi Royal family are active in maintaining this belief system and yet they are presently being welcomed by the Queen.

Meanwhile, what's happened to the Rajavi's and their ILF? We have no choice but to veiw present events as absolute proof that our so-called democratic Governments have conspired to silence the true voice of Islam and instead, give ample publicity to fundamentalists and their corrupt regimes. I urge all readers to find out what they can about the Rajavis, to write to their MP's demanding a public investigation and a proper explanation as to why the ILF have been actively denied media representation; When Iran played USA at the World-Cup at Lyon in France, over 40,000 ILF supporters attended that match wearing T-shirts depicting the Rajavi's, they also brandished the original Iranian flags in protest against the Ayotollah's new "Islamic" flag. Flags were promptly confiscated by French police and the Iran-USA match was the only one shown on TV without a single shot of the supporters - furthermore, the sound was turned down so the chants of the crowd couldn't be heard. We experienced the same treatment when 30,000 ILf supporters met outside the UN in New York to protest at the UN acceptance of the then Iranian Prime Minister, Khatami - a man directly responsible for the torture and deaths of thousands of innocent people. Cameras were everywhere, but not one shot made it onto to TV - the whole demo' was reduced to a couple of lines in the New York Times and a paragraph in the Independent.

I attended both deno's and as a natural UK citizen was appalled at the news blackout against such a fair and just organisation as the ILF. We must not leave the Rajavis locked in this conspiracy of slence, we must demand their voice be heard and their cause be given the full media and public attention it deserves.