Death of Amir Pishdad, Veteran Political Activist in Iran

Amir Pishdad, a veteran political activist of the leftist national spectrum and a physician residing in Paris, passed away on Wednesday, February 6, 2019, at the age of 88 in his home. From 1951 to 1953, he was a student at the Tehran University Medical School, initially serving as the head of the student committee of the 'Workers' Party of Iran' and a member of the editorial board of the weekly organ of the youth branch of this party called 'Third Force.' After serious disagreements and a split between supporters of political leader Mozaffar Baqai and intellectual leader Khalil Maleki regarding support for or against the Mossadegh government, Amir Pishdad continued to support Khalil Maleki and the government of Mohammad Mossadegh alongside the majority of the party members. During this period, he was not only responsible for the student committee of 'Third Force' at the medical school but also became a speaker for the party's youth sector. After Jalal Al-e Ahmad, he served as the editor of the magazine 'Science and Life,' the intellectual publication of the Workers' Party of Iran (Third Force) from the age of 22 until August 19, 1953. He believed that the party's vision required a policy of unity and criticism to strengthen Mossadegh's government and advance the 'National Movement of Iran.' Following his immigration to Paris in 1954, Amir Pishdad continued his political activities by supporting the Third Force and Mohammad Mossadegh for a short time in the Association of Iranian Students in France and the Confederation of Iranian Students in Europe. He then continued his sustained activities by participating in the establishment of the 'Society of Iranian Socialists in Europe' in 1960, which supported the positions of the 'Society of Socialists of the National Movement of Iran' led by Khalil Maleki and his associates in Iran. In 1979, in the months leading up to the revolution, Amir Pishdad, along with veteran political activists such as Moloud Khanlari and Hossein Malek, was one of the writers and signatories of alarming open letters warning political activists against joining the wave of Islamism. After the revolution, Amir Pishdad, alongside Homayoun Katouzian, encouraged political activists to defend the achievements of the freedom-seeking struggle since the Constitutional Movement, the National Movement, and the Third Force and national left, instead of strengthening radicalism and extremism, to promote democracy and national sovereignty, political, economic, social, and cultural development, and poverty alleviation programs in their political efforts. He was also one of the 21 political activists who signed the December 7, 1983 statement of republican political activists and was one of the founding members of the 'National Republicans of Iran' and the editor of the publication reflecting this organization, 'Letter of Freedom Seekers.' In recent decades, Amir Pishdad, along with Homayoun Katouzian, compiled and published 'Letters of Khalil Maleki' and some of Khalil Maleki's articles that were printed in Science and Life.