Honorable Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania
His Excellency Mr. Edvin Rama
Greetings and Regards
I am Ebrahim Khodabandeh, the CEO of Nejat Society in Iran. I have written to you and other statesmen and officials of the Republic of Albania many times, but unfortunately, I have not received any response so far. Therefore, with your permission, I am providing the content of this letter to the Albanian authorities, parliament representatives, and media to record it in history, so that it is clear what has been said many times.
I would like to point out the history of friendship and deep cultural commonalities between the two nations of Albania and Iran and to remind you the fact that these two countries have not had the slightest conflict and disagreement in their historical records, until the presence of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO, Rajavi Cult) in Albania.
In previous correspondence, I have written in detail about the restrictions that are applied to the families of the members trapped in the isolated and remote camp of the MEK in Albania in order to communicate with their loved ones, but so far the least attention has been paid to this clear violation of the most basic human rights by an organization that has been brought to Albania under the responsibility of your government.
I must clarify that the support and cooperation of the Albanian government with the MEK is absolutely certain and is not hidden from anyone. Under the guise of humanitarian action, as you mentioned in the interview with the New York Times, your government brought the MEK to Albania, while according to you, Iraq and no other country was willing to accept them, and you pointed out that it was supposed that no political activities be done, but you admitted that in practice the opposite happened.
But on the other hand, all kinds of restrictions are applied against the former members of this organization, which are organized within the framework of the Association for the Support of Iranians Living in Albania (ASILA), which can be explained in details. These people are refugees who left their homeland hoping to bring freedom and prosperity to their people, and then they were deceived by a terrorist cult and were forcibly brought to Albania. From preventing them from opening a bank account and refusing to give identification cards and work permits to not giving them travel documents or visas to their families to visit them, as well as imprisoning some of them in the Karrec camp for no reason, are among the restrictions that is applied against these people.
Nejat Society, consisting of the families of the Rajavi Cult members, decided to help these helpless people who were unwillingly brought to your country by the MEK. The members of ASILA have decided to expose the cultic nature of the MEK to everyone so that no one else falls into their trap, and apparently this is bothering some in Albania.
In previous messages, I gave information about the activities of the MEK, which apparently is not supposed to do any political activities. In addition to them, for the information of your Excellency and other statesmen and security officials of the Republic of Albania, I should mention that according to the media of the MEK, the annual ceremony of this organization is scheduled to be held in the form of a demonstration in Paris on July 1st of this year, with the speech of Maryam Rajavi. It has been decided that Maryam Rajavi and many officials of this organization will go to France from Albania to participate in this ceremony. These traffics are carried out in coordination with the authorities of the Albanian government. These people travel with passports other than their real names. For example, Mehdi Abrishamchi, who is known by the name Sharif inside the MEK, travels with a passport in the name of Bahman Tehrani.
It should be noted that Maryam Rajavi traveled to Brussels on the 25th and 26th of May to lobby for the project of preventing the return of the Iranian diplomat, with the coordination of the Albanian authorities, using a passport with a different name, and returned to Albania again. This is contrary to the claims of preventing the political activities of the MEK against the Islamic Republic. An issue between the two countries of Iran and Belgium was being resolved. What can this issue have to do with Maryam Rajavi and her sponsor, the Albanian government?
Your security officials have repeatedly reminded our friends in Albania that Albania is not a war zone of the MEK and its former members. Who ignited the fire of this war? Who accepted the responsibility of the MEK in the war with Iran and allowed it to threaten Iran’s security?
Either the Albanian government knowingly supports the MEK and restricts its former members for the benefit of this organization, or the MEK is abusing the Albanian government and some executive and security officials of this country. In any case, considering the fact that this organization has a history and performance and nature of terrorism, it can be considered a threat to national security.
Recently, after the hacking of the websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, which I mentioned in the previous message, the website of the presidency was also hacked by showing the pictures of the leaders of this organization, and the MEK immediately accepted the responsibility in a statement and republished it many times.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/hackers-post-photos-of-iranian-opposition-leaders-on-government-websites
Hackers post photos of Iranian opposition leaders on government websites
Pictures of Massoud Rajavi, the long-missing leader of the MEK exile group, and his wife go up on several sites
By JON GAMBRELL
The working method adopted by the Albanian government, which means accepting the MEK in its territory without the least restrictions and providing all kinds of facilities to act against the security of the Iranian people, and in contrast to restricting its former members in various ways, definitely cannot be in line with the best national interests of this country.
In my opinion, Albania is at a special and important historical moment, where it is necessary to make the right decision. From the beginning of its presence in Albania, the MEK tried to disrupt the relations between the two countries and put the two countries against each other, thus consolidating its own position. Giving a free hand to the MEK for travel and any practical action and tightening ASILA’s hands and limiting it will definitely not help the current difficult situation.
I hereby request that the legal issues of ASILA members and especially the possibility of their families traveling to Albania or the possibility of their traveling to outside of Albania be provided. Arrangements should also be made so that families can communicate with their loved ones in the MEK camp in Albania.
Respects
Ebrahim Khodabandeh
Copy to:
Albanian government officials
Members of Parliament of Albania
Security and police officials
Media