Edna Sabet

Edna Sabet
Born	1934 Tehran, Iran
Died	1982 Tehran, Iran
Other names	Pary Sabet
Occupation(s)	Political activist, Guerilla warfare
Years active	1972-1982
Known for	leading member of Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas,PMOI,Peykar

Edna Sabet (Persian: ادنا ثابت) was a political communist activist and prisoner in Iran. She was a member of Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas and later Organization of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class or simply Peykar. She was active in the revolution against Shah but executed shortly after the revolution on 1982.

Early life

Edna was born to a wealthy Jewish family from Kermanshah. Her family immigrated to Tehran in 1920's. She was born in 1934 in Tehran. She had two sisters and two brothers. Her father, a wealthy Jewish businessman was the owner of an airplane manufacturing plant. Most of her family were US trained engineers. Although born in a Jewish family, she was relatively secular and was not interested in religion.

Edna Sabet and her husband, Ghulamhossein Aruni.

Early activities

Edna entered Sharif University of Technology, Then known as Aryamehr university in 1972. Two years into her studies she joined the Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas. She travelled abroad two times in the same year. Some sources say she travelled to England both times, while others claim she travelled to Israel first and England in the second time. She was known as "Pary" in the Guerrillas.

Joining Peykar

Sabet joined Peykar later in her studies. She quickly rose through the ranks and became one of the leading members of the group. She met her future husband, Ghulamhossein Aruni and later married him. Aruni later joined PMOI (MEK) and Edna followed in his footsteps. Their love story was famous among the PMOI members.

After the revolution

Although PMOI joined other forces during the revolution, shortly after they were banned and conflict between them and Islamist revolutionaries quickly escalated.

Arrest and execution

Edna was arrested by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shortly after the revolution. Later she was found guilty in revolutionary courts and was sentenced to execution by Sadegh Khalkhali. According to many sources she was imprisoned and tortured for a year before execution in 1982.

One of the members of the PMOI described her as :"she was everything islamic republic was afraid of, a brave woman, a jew, a leftist which made war against the core of the islamic republic."

She was of the few Jews which openly joined a Marxist-Islamist organization.