Mr. Esmail Taherkhani, the brother of Issa Taherkhani, who was detained in the MEK camp in Albania, wrote a letter to the World Health Organization requesting immediate action on his brother’s health.
The text of the letter is as follows:
Representative of the World Health Organization in Albania
Greetings and best regards
I am Esmail Taherkhani, the brother of Issa Taherkhani, who is apparently at this time in the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) camp in Albania.
My brother was captured by Iraqi forces during the Iran-Iraq war and was deceitfully transferred to the MEK camp in Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s rule. I have not heard from my brother since then and the family has not been allowed to contact him.
Due to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease and its epidemic all over the world, especially in Albania, according to the latest media reports, several dozen members of this group have died of the Covid-19 virus in recent weeks. They were buried in the local Manëz (Manzë) cemetery in Durrës, Albania.
The MEK, which operates a camp on the outskirts of Tirana, does not allow journalists and doctors to enter the area and works with patients with coronavirus disease and deaths outside the protocols of the World Health Organization and the Albanian government.
This has raised our concerns about the health of a large number of members, most of whom are elderly and over 60 years old. We have to wait for a humanitarian catastrophe in the Manëz area of Tirana and endanger the health of hundreds of thousands of people in this area and its neighboring areas, because the camp where the MEK members are based is completely closed and people have group life and are not allowed to have communication with their families. Also, the Albanian government does not grant visas to Iranians at the request of the MEK leaders to travel to that country and follow the issue closely.
I desperately urge you not to neglect any action that is imagined in order to alleviate the worries of me and my expectant family, so that news of my brother will reach us and we will be able to communicate. Please do not hesitate to take any action and follow up in this regard.
Thanks a lot
Esmail Taherkhani
Qazvin – Iran