WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents on behalf of the US families and relatives of Ashraf residents, deeply regrets the painful loss of Ashraf os-Sadat Morteza'i, "Marzieh". She was 86.

Marzieh, the grand dame of Iranian music, was the proverbial embodiment of unrelenting defiance and resistance against Iran's ruling tyranny and the steadfast friend and defender of Ashraf residents and the Iranian Resistance for the past 16 years until her very last moment.

Marzeih performed her very first concert since 1979 in Ashraf before members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) after she joined the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in 1994. She was later appointed as the advisor on artistic affairs to the NCRI's President-elect Maryam Rajavi.

In late 1990s, she left the comfort of her life in Paris for Iraq to live for several years near Ashraf residents whom she dearly loved as her own children and whom she admired as vanguards of the resistance movement for freedom and democracy in Iran.

Following the Iraqi forces' July 2009 deadly attack on unarmed residents of Camp Ashraf, Marzieh, despite being extremely weakened as a result of the cancer, took an active role on behalf of the Ashraf residents to secure their safety and security by writing letters to heads of governments and human rights and religious leaders.

Marzieh's unparalleled fame as the "nightingale of Iran" traverses several generations of Iranians. Beyond artistic brilliance and ingenuity, however, Marzieh is now immortalized in Iran's history for her uncompromising stance as a woman and as an artist against the religious tyranny and for her relentless fight for a free Iran.

The US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents extends its sincere condolences to Mrs. Rajavi, Marzieh's family, freedom-loving Iranians, and the 3,400 residents of Ashraf and their families in Iran and abroad.

SOURCE US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents

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