Experts and political representatives from Albania were in the European Parliament last week, asking Europe for help in preventing the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) from toxifying their country’s internal and foreign relations. MEPs Ana Gomes and Patricia Lalonde hosted a round-table meeting, titled ‘Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) threat in Albania’ to discuss the problem.
The MEP Ana Gomes declared her concerns about the free access of the MKO agents to the EU parliament despite its terrorist background. The other attendees also warned about the threat of the MKO in Europe particularly Albanian territory.
Olsi Jazexhi, Director of the Free Media Institute in Tirana addressed the meeting: ”The irony is that the Albanian government prosecutes those who want to join the jihad in Syria but does nothing to curtail the MEK, which is something the media have queried. Another issue is that refugees from other countries have shown that they want to integrate into Albanian society. The MEK do not want to integrate. They have come as a terrorist organization and will commit acts of terrorism in the future. They live in a paramilitary camp and their leader Maryam Rajavi every day breaks the law of Albania by calling for jihad against a foreign country. This has resulted in Sunni leaders asking, if MEK can pursue jihad, why can’t we?”
The meeting was held 26 years after the MKO’s coordinated raids on the Iranian diplomatic missions in April 1992. Operatives of the MKO have on many occasions trespassed on Iranian missions abroad. It has carried out numerous terrorist attacks against Iranian civilians and government officials over the past three decades inside Iran or abroad. A 1997 State Department report confirms the violent acts of the group in western countries, “In April 1992 the MEK carried out attacks on Iranian embassies in 13 different countries, demonstrating the group’s ability to mount large-scale operations overseas.”
Canadian Network for Search on Terrorism describes the attack on the Iranian embassy in Ottawa, that was carried out by the Mujahedin Khalq and left seven people injured, as successful. This is the description of the incident:”04/05/1992: At about 12:18 p.m. the Iranian Ambassador and other Embassy staff in Ottawa were assaulted. A group of members and supporters of the Mujahedin e Khalq (MEK) demonstrating outside the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa forced their way into the building using iron bars and sledgehammers. They assaulted the Iranian ambassador, injured six other people, and caused extensive damage. Twenty-nine individuals were charged in connection with this attack. Twenty-one were convicted, two for assault with a weapon and the rest on lesser charges.”
The raids included the Iranian Mission to the United Nations in New York. The Iranian Embassy in Canberra was also over-run and some staff were seriously injured.
Regarding the outrageous history of the MKO, It seems quiet natural that the Albanian Journalist such as Olsi Jazexhi recommended the EU Parliament to be watchful about the MKO. “EU parliament, which has a lot of influence in Albania, should ask the Albanian government to demand the MEK abandon their violent jihad, to integrate into our society and to accept the values of democracy,” he said. “The MEK must end the intimidation, calls for terrorism, lies and misinformation and fake news in Albania. They must dismantle their paramilitary organization. And if Maryam Rajavi and those like Struan Stevenson disagree with us, they should deal with us in a democratic way. They must come and debate with us. I ask you as Europeans to put the utmost pressure on the Albanian government to save us from this very strange terrorist organization.”
Mazda Parsi