Asiyeh Rakhshani had never seen her homeland, Iran, which she loved very much.
Her parents, both PMOI activists, had to leave Iran to join the Resistance. Her ancestors were from Sistan and Baluchestan, and she loved her native land dearly and followed up on their news.
Asiyeh Rakhshani joined the Resistance in 1999 and she was very devoted to the cause.
She was prepared to sacrifice from her own for the wellbeing of others. She believed that the fate of her people in Iran was tied to the efforts and resolve of the pioneers in Ashraf, including herself.
In the final years of her life, Asiyeh Rakhshani was into film production and helped document the events in Ashraf. So on April 8, 2011, she was also filming the scenes of savagery and brutality of the Iraqi forces, targeting and shooting the human chain of her friends and comrades who were defending their city with their flesh and bone.
Asiyeh Rakhshani was one of the 36 members of the PMOI/MEK who laid down their lives during this unequal confrontation in Ashraf.
She was 28 when she died after being shot by a sniper.
On April 8, 2011, the PMOI freedom fighters stood up to a column of ten armored, infantry, mechanized brigades and battalions of the Iraqi forces affiliated with Tehran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei. They attacked Ashraf City at the behest of the Iranian regime to massacre all of its defenseless residents, destroy the city and annihilate the opposition.
The freedom fighters were empty handed without any shields. Snipers targeted them in the head and chest. Armored vehicles ran over at least 22 people. Iraqi forces shelled the residential units. They did not even allow the wounded to be taken to hospital.
The shooting of heavy armored vehicles and snipers continued incessantly for six hours. The plan was to massacre all the residents of Ashraf.
180 people were shot directly. A number of hostages died in captivity. Some 300 people were wounded.
But Ashraf residents stood firm and prevented the enemy from taking over the city which was the beating heart of the Iranian people’s Resistance movement.
