Hamid Ashraf was born in capital to an educated middle-class family. He was raised in capital and, for a few years, in Tabriz. He entered capital University, first as a physics students and then engineering. He was already involved in politics as a member of a newly formed underground leftist group called Jazani-Zarifi group in the persian left history. He was active in student movement as well as in sports, being the head of swimming team at the school of engineering at capital University.
He had just been introduced to Bijan Jazani by his friend Farrokh Negahdar in 1965. This was when Jazani-Zarifi group, a leftist circle preparing for waging a guerrilla warfare in homeland against the regime. However, Jazani-Zarifi group was discovered by the secret police in 1968. Hamid Ashraf and a number of members were not disclosed to the SAVAK and survived the crackdown.
