Home » Albania » Page 14

Albania

blank
Albania

John Bolton, Mojahedin Khalq (MEK) and the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador

The expulsion of the Iranian ambassador from Albania by order of the US Security Adviser John Bolton is an act that has seriously shaken Albanian politics. The Albanian government of Prime Minister Rama, Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati and President Ilir Meta not only did not welcome the dictates of John Bolton, but until now have not made any official statement to welcome the expulsion of the ambassador. The fearful Albanian politicians have no other choice but to obey the American government which, after settling the Iranian Mojahedin terrorist organization there, is turning Albania into a second Afghanistan where the country is a battlefield between the MEK jihadists and Iran.

In the IMPAKT show, attorney Migena Balla, who has defended clients who have been raped by Maryam Rajavi’s cult, discusses with investigative journalist Gjergji Thanasi, analyst Alfred Cako and historian Dr Olsi Jazexhi the most recent diplomatic scandal in Albania that came after America commanded Albania to expel the Iranian ambassador from the country. Gjergji Thanasi, who knows the MEK well, shows that the decision to expel the Iranian ambassador was an American decision that did not bring Albania any benefit except for Edi Rama who hopes to organize a meeting with Trump and allow a free run by Americans to transport drugs. Speaking as a nationalist, Thanasi asks: what has Albania gained from this ban?

Dr Olsi Jazexhi, who has written for the international media about the risk that MEK has brought to Albania, exposes the fake news campaign that MEK is running from their Manza paramilitary camp and shows that the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador was in fact a demand that the terrorist group has been making in Albania for several months. Dr Jazexhi blames the MEK for this diplomatic scandal and analyses the defamatory campaign that MEK is running from Albania which accuses Iran of committing terrorist acts in Europe. He points out that the organization, which was brought to Albania on humanitarian grounds, has now hijacked Albanian politics and this group of magicians with their so-called president Maryam Rajavi are behaving as though they are kings of Albania and not some victims that began by wailing and seeking shelter and help.

Alfred Cako, who analyses Albania’s fealty to the great powers, exposes the war that is happening today in the US administration between the Zionist Jews and the American Trump administration. Cako thinks Trump is playing with Zionist extremists, and the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador was part of this game as Trump is co-operating behind the scene with Putin and Russia to end the rule of Jewish Zionists in the world and the US. During the debate Dr Jazexhi explained that MEK has not only managed to establish a firm hold in Albania, but demonstrates how, from its paramilitary camp, the MEK is organizing a fake news campaign, a campaign through which this group – which holds its members hostage, threatens the media, radicalizes its members, calls for jihad against Iran and which has in the past has committed acts of terrorism and murder – ironically presents itself as an Iranian opposition. The historian concludes that the MEK’s defamatory campaign is crazy since the MEK is a terrorist organization and the people of Iran do not see MEK as an Iranian opposition because Iran has democracy and hundreds of political parties take part in elections which divide power.

Gjergji Thanasi, who has been studying the MEK for years, explained how MEK has managed to build a state within the state in Albania. They have managed to take control of the police, the border, and carry out illegal acts in the country, while the Albanian government behave like fools in front of this elderly terrorist group. After visiting Iran several days ago, he shows how the government there serves the people of Iran and is more democratic and humane than the ruling government of Edi Rama and Pandeli Majko, and that the dreams of Maryam Rajavi and John Bolton for insurrection to overthrow the regime in Iran are in vain.

Returning to the local context, Dr Jazexhi shows how the MEK began scheming to influence Albanian domestic politics. They complain to the Americans against the government of Edi Rama and have begun to exploit the opposition’s position for their own interests. In the global context, Alfred Cako sees the US ambassador’s expulsion as part of a two-scenario game that Trump is playing against Iran. One scenario is that Trump might want to hit out at Iran, while the second scenario may be that the US government may sooner or later attack the Iranian Mojahedin, who are currently Israel’s forces, but that one day the Americans could expel from Albania.

The conclusion of the debate is that Albania has major problems with hosting these Iranian terrorists in the country, and the expulsion of the US ambassador was a scandal of international proportions. This scandal exposed Albania’s weakness and servility before the Americans, the threat that the MEK constitutes for the stability of Europe and Albania, and how the MEK’s fake news campaign has placed the country in a scandalous diplomatic situation.
Translated by Iran Interlink

0 comment
FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsappTelegramSkypeEmail
Albanian Government Turns Blind Eye to Human Rights Abuse in MEK Camp
Albania

Albanian Government Turns Blind Eye to Human Rights Abuse in MEK Camp

A recent report from The Guardian has uncovered systematic human rights abuse in the Albanian camp of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), a former Iranian terrorist organization exiled from Iraq to Albania. As Exit has reported over the last years, multiple high-ranking US politicians have visited the MEK in Albania, as US administration’s interest in overturning the Iranian regime have grown.

The article in The Guardian reveals that members of the MEK have started to defect, many of whom end up in Tirana on their way to emigrate to EU countries or the US. These defectors have reported continuous human rights abuses within the Albanian MEK camp:

    [T]he move from Iraq to the relative safety of Albania has precipitated a wave of defections. Those with means have fled the country to the EU and the US, but around 120 recent MEK escapees remain in Tirana with no right to work or emigrate. I spoke to about a dozen defectors, half of whom are still in Albania, who said that MEK commanders systematically abused members to silence dissent and prevent defections – using torture, solitary confinement, the confiscation of assets and the segregation of families to maintain control over members. […]

The testimony of these recent defectors follows earlier reports from groups such as Human Rights Watch, which reported former members witnessed “beatings, verbal and psychological abuse, coerced confessions, threats of execution and torture that in two cases led to death.”

The MEK camp appearsto fall “beyond the jurisdiction of the Albanian police”:

    Ylli Zyla, who served as head of Albanian military intelligence from 2008 to 2012, accused the MEK of violating Albanian law. “Members of this organisation live in Albania as hostages,” he told me. Its camp, he said, was beyond the jurisdiction of Albanian police and “extraordinary psychological violence and threats of murder” took place inside.

The Albanian government, meanwhile, turns a blind eye to the human rights abuses on its territory, hoping that hosting the MEK will give them leverage over the US government:

    Olsi Jazexhi, a professor of history at the University of Durres critical of the government’s decision to accept the MEK fighters, says that Albanian politicians hoped the deal would lead the US to turn a blind eye to their own corruption. “The MEK is a card which gives them leverage with the United States,” he said. “They think that by taking the MEK, the Americans will leave their business alone.”

Full protection of human rights is one of the five key conditions for opening EU accession negotiations. It seems that, once again, the Albanian government fails to honor its obligations in that regard.

Exit, Explaining Albania,

Albanian Government Turns Blind Eye to Human Rights Abuse in MEK Camp

Albanian Government Turns Blind Eye to Human Rights Abuse in MEK Camp

Albanian Government Turns Blind Eye to Human Rights Abuse in MEK Camp

0 comment
FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsappTelegramSkypeEmail
blank
Albania

The fortified headquarters of Iranian Mojahedin Khalq in Albania

Last February, the occhidella guerra reported the transfer of 3,500 mujahideen to Albania. The Mek was previously kept at a base near Baghdad (Liberty Camp). Among other things, it referred to their new headquarters being constructed in Manez, near Durre. Today there are further evidence that confirm this project and much more. But let’s go in order.

What is the Mek

The Mek or Mojahedin Khalq Organisation of Iran is an organization which was born in 1963 in Iran with the aim of opposing the Western influence in the country and fighting the regime of the Shah. In 1979 the Mek participated in the revolution led by [Ayatollah]Khomeini but the ideology, a crossroads of Marxism, feminism and Islamism, clashed with that of the Ayatollahs.

In 1981 the Mek moved to Paris where Massoud Rajavi (The leader) founded his headquarters and five years later moved to Camp Ashraf, north of Baghdad, from where he supported and joined the war of Saddam Hussein against Iran. MEK also engaged in the repression of the Kurds on behalf of Saddam. In 2003 the Mek was disarmed by the Americans and moved to Camp Liberty. The Mek continued to play a role in the political and diplomatic activities against Tehran and continues to do so today.

Previously, the organization was blacklisted not only by Iran and Iraq, but also by the European Union, Britain, the US and Canada, only to be “cleared” between 2008 and 2012. A New York Times article by September 21, 2012 illustrated how the then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, had decided to clear the Mek , making it remove from the “black list” to be able to then put it away from the reach of Tehran, in a country willing to welcome them, in this Albania. The goal is more than evident: use the Mek to support a regime change in Tehran. But why in Albania? What is a “pledge” to pay for entry into Europe and NATO?

Today it is Maryam Rajavi who leads the Mek after the mysterious disappearance of her husband Massoud that coincides with the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. Some sources speak of a possible death while others say that the former leader is in hiding to escape the agents of Tehran.

Political support at the international level

The Mek has received support from various international political figures including former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton and Emma Bonino as vice-president of the Senate in June 2012. The New York Times noted that several members of Congress had become staunch supporters of the movement that, if once Marxist-Islamist, then changed its mind by transforming its own struggle and becoming the main organized movement against the Iranian government.

According to the New York newspaper, among the supporters of the Mek there would be R. James Woolsey and Porter J. Goss, former directors of the CIA; Louis J. Freeh, former director of the FBI; Tom Ridge, former Secretary of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush; Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey and national security advisor, General James L. Jones, operating under the Obama administration.

In the last year there have been several positions in favor of Mek by members of the national and international political scene. In mid-September an official delegation of the Italian Radical Party and the “Hands off Cain” association visited the mujahidin headquarters in Albania. The delegation included Elisabetta Zamparutti, Sergio D’Elia, Rita Bernardini, Mattia Moro, Maria Antonietta and Luca Coscioni; Albanian sources claim that the members of the Mek would provide an account of the violations of human rights implemented by the regime in Tehran.

Last June 30, it was the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Monti government, Giulio Terzi, who spoke at a meeting of the Mek where, in front of thousands of anti-Tehran protesters, he announced his “unconditional support to the Mek”, defining his militants “freedom fighters” and saying that “a large part of Italian society is convinced that being on your side means being on the right side of history”. The whole speech was published on the Mek website and can be viewed here.

Even the former mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, in 2018 expressed himself at least on a couple of occasions in favour of the Mek with statements like: “The Iranian people have had enough of this regime that will be overthrown … We have no doubt that the Mek coalition can cope with this regime “.

And again: “The mullahs have to leave, the ayatollahs have to leave and must be replaced by a democratic government that Mrs. Rajavi represents”, as reported by the Guardian.

In short, yet another attempt to overthrow the government to export “democracy”, a film already seen and revised.

Last September 26, the Albanian journalist Kastriot Myftaraj, during the television program “Ju flet Moska“, had criticized the recent invocations to the uprising in Iran by the leader of the Mek, Maryam Rajavi, bringing up the article 221 of the Albanian penal code that punishes incitement to insurrection with penalties ranging from 15 years upwards.

Article 265 b / c of the Albanian penal code which prohibits involvement in military operations and violent actions in foreign countries should also be taken into consideration.

The Manez headquarters

Numerous international sources have documented the presence of a large complex near the Albanian village of Manez, which serves as the main base for the Mek, a complex that has already been inhabited even though it is still being completed. Several local reporters have witnessed the presence of private armed guards outside the complex, a barrier and further unarmed guards inside.

The well-known Albanian investigative journalist Gjergj Thanasi was among the first to notice the presence of Manez and had shown the dynamics of the Eyes of War last February:

“The Council of the Territorial Organization (Keshilli i Rregullimit te Territorit) is responsible for issuing permits for the construction of public works and private buildings (factories, hotels, schools, roads, etc.). This Council had published a list of permits issued for a series of works and among them there was one against an NGO called F.A.R.A. The permit was dated 16 October 2017 and indicated the authorization for “a residential complex and services for the Iranian community in Albania”. At that point I investigated this F.A.R.A that, strangely and contrary to the Albanian law, was not registered with the Tax Office and did not even have a VAT number, which is prohibited in Albania.

I then continued the investigation at the town planning office of the town of Durres (which I know very well having lived here for 52 years); there they showed me a written request from the F.A.R.A. in which permission was requested for the creation of a building site (fence, water connections, electricity, containers, etc.) and it emerged that the Municipality had not issued any permit. The letter of request did not have a header, there was no address or telephone number. At this point I went to Manez (in the first week of November 2017) to see what was happening and I found myself in front of a finished fence, an already installed electricity grid, and some channels under construction, for the water network. There was also a container with offices inside the fence. Around the yard there were guards and also three policemen with the uniform of the State Police “.

The site would have been located precisely between the villages of Kulles and Manez e-Vieter, with entrance on the Rruga Lalezit road and the complex there are several aerial images and films.

On August 10th, British journalist Lindsey Hilsum of Channel 4 went outside the Manez complex to document its existence and was physically attacked by some members of the Mek.

According to reports from the Albanian media, some witnesses said that security guards tried to tear and break the crew camera while some members of the Mek hit Hilsum and took their chaperone by the neck. At that point, Albanian police officers arrived on the spot and stopped the attack and accompanied the two assaulted men to the barracks.

Later, a spokesman for the Mek told the Albanian media that British journalists are in contact with the Iranian secret services and that they had not been advised of their arrival.

The case of Somaya Mohammadi and interviews with dissidents

Another case that is doing a lot of discussion in Albania is that of Mostafa Mohammadi, father of 38-year-old Somaya, who left home when he was 16 together with a militant woman from the Mek.

Mostafa explained that he had immigrated to Canada with his family in 1994 and entered the orbit of the Mek, helping them raise funds but in the meantime the organization would brainwash his sister, convincing her years later to move to Iraq, Camp Ashraf, to fight the Iranian regime. She die on the spot during military attacks or could have been executed if arrested. Years later a Mek militant would have approached his daughter Somaya, telling her that they have met her aunt (with whom the girl had a close relationship) and that she would like to show her where she had been and what she had done. So the they went off on a journey that only lasted two weeks but Somaya never returned home, cutting all contacts with her family.

Last July Mostafa Mohammadi went to Tirana to try to raise the case and get in touch with his daughter, which he said was held against her will in the Manez headquarters and accused some members of the Mek of attacking him , as reported by Shqiptarija and Gazeta Impakt who also published a video.

The Canadian, Iraqi and Albanian judiciary have however expressed themselves against Mohammadi’s accusations, declaring that the girl is voluntarily a member of the organization and being an adult, she is able to make her own decisions in autonomy and freedom.

On 25 July 2018 Somaya released an interview where he rejected the accusations made by his father, claiming to be a voluntary member of the Mek and accusing his father of collaborating with the Iranian secret services. A controversial case whose dynamics are still unclear.

The Albanian investigative program Fiks Fare managed to get in touch with three of the 200 dissidents who have fled from the MEK in Albania and interviewed them, as also reported by the Prishtina Post.

All three confirmed that the mujahideen housed in the camp are all well-trained fighters and that it is strictly forbidden to maintain contact with their families.

The first interviewed, Sadolah Seifi, explained that he was born in 1969 and that he joined Mek voluntarily at 21 for economic reasons. Seifi explained that initially the Mek speaks of freedom, but in fact it is “a frightening organization” with many agents who force their followers to do what the leader says, and it is strictly forbidden to have a family. According to Seifi the main problem of those who would like to leave the Mek is that in Albania they do not have a status, they cannot work and they do not have money to live.

The second interviewee, Ehsan Bidi, confirmed the military preparation of the mujahidin, adding that he learned a lot about weapons and their use; Bidi also claimed that the Mek at the time sent men in to Iran to place bombs and conduct terrorist acts.

The third interviewee, Manuchehr Abdi, 55 years of which 13 years with the Mek, pointed out that in Albania the organization is trying to reconstruct the same context that was present in the Iraqi base.

On military training Abdi said: “When I was part of the organization I was a member of a group that virtually connected with young people in Iran and taught them to fight, because we need to know that everyone in this organization knows how to fight to kill, we are militarily prepared we know everything about weapons “.

Regarding the family context, the interviewee made it clear that visits to his family were forbidden in Camp Ashraf and that he himself could not have contact with his daughter. A situation that is also present in Albania following agreements with the Tirana government.

In conclusion

What is the Mek then? A group of dissidents and persecuted by the Iranian regime? A sectarian force of opposition composed of militarily trained elements ready to overthrow the regime? A terrorist organization? (According to what was stated by Tehran). Where do the Mek funding come from?

In geopolitics it is known that an organization can be considered “terrorist” or “resistance movement” based on the interests of those who support it and have seen it with many other organizations, from the Muslim Brotherhood to Hizbullah, from the PLO to the “resistance” “Syrian. What is certain is that it is difficult to combat terrorism when we cannot even find a universally shared definition of the term.

Meanwhile, however, the presence in Albania of the Mek does nothing but further aggravate the delicate situation in the Balkans where jihadist and Islamist groups are already present. The Balkan area seems more and more a logistics and transit area in support of the war policies in the Middle East and all this at the expense of regional stability, Italy included.

Giovanni Glacalone, Cliocchidella Guerra, Rome, Italy,Google Translation with Iran Interlink editing

0 comment
FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsappTelegramSkypeEmail
blank
Albania

Jazexhi: Albania has reverted to a base for Israeli Mossad and Iranian Mojahedin Khalq

Historian Olsi Jazexhi, invited to Arena by Dritan Hila of Ora News, said that Albania has become the main base of Israel’s Mossad and the Iranian Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult, Saddam’s Private army ….).

Jazexhi: Albania has become one of the main bases of Israel’s Mossad and the Iranian Mojahedin (Maryam Rajavi cult), a former terrorist group. Al Jazeera made a documentary a month ago which showed how 1700 computers have been brought from abroad to Manzas where the Mojahedin Khalq terror group stick online and attack any government trying to trade with Iran. The Mojahedin Khalq are used by Donald Trump to sabotage the European policy towards the nuclear deal with Iran. Whoever reads the news, the Mujahideen (Maryam Rajavi cult) produce an article every week or every month saying that ‘Iran has come to Albania to attack us.

Ora News.tv, Tirana ,Translated by Iran Interlink

0 comment
FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsappTelegramSkypeEmail
MEK troll farm in Albania
Albania

Albanian security officials concerned over the threat of the MKO

Albanian security officials are concerned about recent actions of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/MEK/PMOI) in their territory.

Maryam Rajavi together with a large number of her companions have been resided in Hotel National, Tirana, for two weeks now, according to a former member of the MKO who lives in Tirana. She has conducted some meetings there.

This has worried the security officials of Tirana. They complained about the MKO’s recent actions in Albanian territory to the political authorities.

Seemingly, the group intends to concentrate the majority of its members from all over Europe, in Albania. The group officials have bought about 1000 computers and imported to Albania, the source revealed.

The MKO’s presence in Albania has always been a security issue for the Albanian Police and security bodies

Other defectors of the MKO speak of increasing complications inside the group’s camps, in Albania. Dissatisfactions of members and dissent against the group’s attitudes is on the rise. Maryam Rajavi’s trip to Albania seems to be the sign of the critical situation of her cult-like group.

0 comment
FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsappTelegramSkypeEmail
Eduard Kukani
Albania

Eduard Kukan MEP refutes Iranian Mojahedin claim

The Mojahedin organization of former Iranian terrorists has managed to publish FAKE NEWS in the Albanian media. MEK’s false news claims that a group of European MPs are concerned about the fate of MEK in Albania and have written an open letter in which they seek their protection. This false news which is published here and has been distributed to Albanian media by a fake Mojahedin account is refuted by Member of the European Parliament, Eduard Kukan. Asked by an Albanian journalist, Kukan says he has not signed the letter and is not aware of the content of a letter of this kind.

This is not the first time the Mojahedin have published false news. Al-Jazeera and other international media have shown in recent weeks this organisation’s cultic and criminal nature and the Fake News activity they produce from their jihadist camp in Manze. Several days ago, they had a letter to the online media published, a letter which was also published by the Albanian print newspaper, claiming that MP Dashamir Shehi had visited the Mojahedin camp and stated that Iranian agents were threatening the MEK. Mr Dashamir Shehi has told journalists who contacted him that he has not written any such letter or made any statement of this kind.

But the ultimate claim from the Iranian mujahideen – which claims that 9 Members of the European Parliament made a statement supporting them – is one of the latest scandals that prove the extremist nature and slanderous nature of the Iranian Mojahedin. Misuse of the names of European MPs is a scandal that is not well received in the European Parliament, but unfortunately some of this manipulation has also reached some Albanian media. Below is the false news that MEK has spread in the name of Eduard Kukan, while the above serves as the answer that Mr Kukan has given to returned to the investigative journalist who is investigating the MEK’s manipulation of European MPs:

E-mail sent from the office of MEP Eduard Kukan, which testifies that he did not sign any letter on behalf of MEK.

“Situation of Iranian dissidents in Albania

October 16, 2018

Brussels- 16 October 2018

We are concerned about the Iranian regime’s terrorist plans against its main opposition. They include plots to blow up the Persian New Year gathering of Iranian refugees, members of the PMOI/MEK, in Tirana in March 2018, and the Free Iran Grand Gathering in Paris on June 30, 2018, as well as an intelligence gathering operation against PMOI members in the U.S. by two agents of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) arrested in August 2018.

By plotting to blow up the Paris gathering attended by some 100,000 people as well as hundreds of European and U.S. dignitaries, including several members of the European Parliament, the regime crossed all red lines. An Iranian diplomat in Vienna personally handed the explosives to other agents. German police arrested him on 1 July and he was handed over to Belgium on 9 October to face trial. On 2 October, French officials announced that the plot to attack the Paris gathering had been organized by Tehran’s intelligence services. France has seized assets belonging to the Iranian Intelligence Ministry. As such, the efforts by the regime and its lobbies trying to attribute this plot only to rogue elements within the regime to save the so called “moderates” in the government, failed.

The new wave of terrorism reflects the regime’s inability to deal with a nationwide uprising that began in late 2017 and has continued to date. Tehran blames the PMOI for organizing the protests and strikes. The ongoing strikes in the Tehran Bazaar and many other cities as well as the continuing strike by hundreds of thousands of truck drivers, are the latest in the series of protests.

Coupled with crackdown at home and terrorism abroad, the Iranian regime has stepped up its sinister campaign of demonization against the Iranian opposition by using the services of its operatives, who have infiltrated several western media outlets. The aim is to portray the opposition as an insular and dangerous sect, which would be worse than the current regime if it were to assume power in Iran.

Iranian dissidents in Albania are the primary focus of this demonization campaign. The regime is furious over the safe and secure relocation all PMOI members to Albania as it failed to annihilate them in Iraq or force them to surrender and return to Iran. By concocting absurd lies such as claiming that the PMOI has set up a government within a government or that it is holding its members against their will, Tehran is clearly setting the stage for further terrorist actions against them.

We are fully aware of the falsity of these claims, disseminated in a well-orchestrated and simultaneous chorus in some media outlets.

Since 2005 several European Parliament delegations travelled to Camp Ashraf, Iraq, privately met with Ashraf residents and published their own reports on the visits. Some of us have also visited the new PMOI site in Albania and have met its members personally.

Our two-decade-long experience with this opposition makes it clear that this movement is a genuinely democratic, responsible and reliable movement, whose only aim is to establish democracy and human rights in Iran. It deeply respects the people and laws of Albania and has forged amicable relations with the host nation. As acknowledged by Albanian leaders, by accepting these refugees, Albania has found a new standing within the European Union and around the world. The members of the PMOI are working to free their homeland voluntarily and freely. No one is being kept in Albania against his/her own will.

Back in 2004 at the European Parliament, Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi, declared that the only solution regarding the Iranian problem is a changing of the regime by the Iranian people and the Resistance. She has called on the international community to end the policy of appeasement and to adopt a firm policy vis-à-vis the regime. We have endorsed Mrs. Rajavi’s ten-point-plan for the future free Iran, which coupled with this movement’s proven commitment to democratic principles gives us enormous hope about the future.

Accordingly, we underscore the following:

  1. Given its undisputed role in terrorism, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry should be placed on the European Union’s terrorism list and the U.S.’s Foreign Terrorist Organisations list.
  2. Consistent with the Council of European Union ratification in April 1997, “visas [should] not be granted to Iranians with intelligence and security functions” and “Iranian intelligence personnel from European Union Member States should be expelled.”
  3. The regime’s agents pose a major threat to Iranian dissidents in Albania. These agents work under various pretexts, especially as journalists. The most urgent step in protecting these refugees is to expel Tehran’s intelligence operatives by the Albanian Government. Experience has shown that when the spies and agents of Iran are tolerated, the host countries’ security would be jeopardised.

Signatories:

  1. Tunne Kelam, Member of European Parliament from Estonia
  2. Eduard Kukan, MEP, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia
  3. Jozo Radoš, MEP, Former Minister of Defence of Croatia
  4. Heinz Becker, Member of European Parliament from Austria
  5. José Bové, Member of European Parliament from France
  6. Julie Ward, Member of European Parliament from UK Labour Party
  7. Anthea McIntyre, MEP, Vice Chair of UK Conservative Party
  8. Petri Sarvamaa, Member of European Parliament from Finland
  9. Ryszard Czarnecki, MEP, former Minister of Europe of Poland
  10. Jan Zahradil, Member of European Parliament from Czech Republic”

Translated by Iran Interlink

0 comment
FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsappTelegramSkypeEmail
Graves of MEK members in a public graveyard in Tirana.
Albania

Albanian Police Report says Mojahedin Khalq Kill Their Own Members

Following a Channel Four News report on the MEK in Albania, presented by international editor Lindsey Hilsum, there has been widespread interest in this issue in the Albanian media. In particular journalists have focused on a secret report by Albania’s National Police, which was obtained by Channel Four News. The report states that MEK in Albania poses a lethal threat to their own members if they try leave or try to leave.

The report acknowledges MEK’s history of killing its own members in Iraq and says police believe this will also happen in Albania.

In June 2018, Albanian media reported a possible MEK assassination after one of the camp residents was reported drowned in an irrigation channel. The alarm was raised by some MEK members who gave conflicting accounts of Malek Shara’i’s drowning. This indicated that they knew from the start he was dead, even though after extensive searches by expert police and navy divers, no body was found for over two weeks.

Eventually, after the scandal of his disappearance became headline news in Albania, a body was suddenly discovered. Shara’i’s family in Iran made a plea to the authorities to discover how he had died. However, MEK convinced the Coroner that a post mortem investigation would be against Iranian sacred burial traditions! MEK then took away the body. There is now a grave bearing his name in the cemetery in Tirana alongside other MEK who have died in that country. The case was closed.

Shara’i’s next of kin are his immediate family who quickly got in touch with the Albanian authorities. They informed investigators that Shara’i had been a strong swimmer and a lifeguard back in Iran. However, they were not consulted at any stage in the investigation or asked for permission for an autopsy, nor told a cause of death or asked about burial preferences.

Putting aside the possible reason that Shara’i died – former members said he had long wanted to leave but knew sensitive information which MEK wanted to keep secret – the failure of the Coroner to challenge MEK’s ridiculous assertion that a post mortem examination is against ‘their’ culture, leaves an opening now for MEK to kill and bury unwanted members with impunity. Apparently, no Albanian institution has the will or capability to resist MEK corruption.

Nevertheless, as the following reports demonstrate, Albanian citizens as well as their security forces, are seriously questioning the appropriateness of MEK’s presence in their small and vulnerable country.

Police secret report: Mojahedin pose a threat to security in Albania

7 September 2018

Mojahedin pose a danger to Albania’s security, according to the English Channel 4 public broadcaster. The television channel’s main correspondent, Lindsey Hilsum, has broadcast a report on the Mojahedin in Albania, including a secret police file of the State Police.

According to this document, signed by director general of the Albanian State Police, Ardi Veliu, Mojahedin constitute a security risk in Albania, as there are reasonable suspicions that members of the MEK group may kill members who leave or attempt to get out of the group.

Mojahedin “may have implications for internal security, as these individuals are deeply indoctrinated, have been part of military structures, have participated in fighting and acts of terror,” the secret document says.

The Mojahedin cult, otherwise known as MEK, became a terrorist group and was included in the 2012 U.S. list of terrorist organizations. Given the indoctrination of members and their activity in Iraq, State Police suspects that they may repeat their killings of members who leave the group.

“Former members of this organization have been murdered in Iraq after they have appeared publicly in opposition to the organization’s activities … following the indication of the actions and behaviors of the citizens in question who are currently separated from this organization, there are reasonable grounds for suspicion that this situation is the same as happened in Iraq, which was followed by murder”, reads the document signed by Ardi Veliu.

Currently the Mojahedin have been accommodated in a large camp at Manez in Durres, where they are under continuous scrutiny by the Albanian authorities to prevent any potential danger they may have for the security of the country.

SECRET POLICE REPORT / Mojahedin ALBANIA, capable of terrorist acts, must be kept under control (documentary CHANNEL 4 NEWS)

10 September 2018

Within Albania, a giant camp is being built for the Mojahedin. Information and some video footage were collected by journalist Lindsey Hilsum, an international editor and presenter of Channel 4 News, who has come to Albania and tried to visit the camp.

She wanted to go to the headquarters of MEK, Iran’s largest opposition group, which has been established for several years in Albania. And one of Iran’s opposition’s friends, is US President Donald Trump.

John Bolton, President Trump’s advisor, spoke to members of the Iranian opposition last year in Albania and how they should take power.

Journalist Lindesy Hilsum has gone to the camp and was not allowed by private guards to enter the camp to conduct interviews.

“I do not understand why the private guards won’t allow us. We are here in Albania”, she says in the documentary, while she says she was accused by the Mojahedin as a spy in the Iranian regime.

But behind the camp’s wire fence the journalist has seen numerous machines working, highlighting the fact that the camp is expanding, though no one will speak.

Even though she has presented her journalist’s identity card, the Albanian private guards have not allowed her to do her job. “Stop the footage”, the private security guard is heard on the camera and then puts his hand on the camera to prevent the footage.

In the Iran-Iraq war, MEK fought on the side of Saddam Hussein, the journalist says, against their country. The Iranian regime at that time executed hundreds of members of the opposition, MEK. They operated from military bases in Iraq and were then classified by the US as a terrorist organization.

When the Americans removed Saddam in 2003, MEK surrendered to US troops. But they were always under attack by pro-Iranian forces. And at that moment the US has revoked MEK’s terrorist status and then dispersed the Mojahedin in four US-backed countries, one of them being Albania.

“In Tirana, I met a couple of Canadian citizens who distributed leaflets to citizens while saying that MEK is not good for their country.

They said they came to Albania to see their daughter, Somayeh, claiming she was kidnapped by MEK 20 years ago and they found her in Albania.”

“I am not against Mojahedin. I have no interest in politics. I want to see my daughter, only for 10 minutes”, says the girl’s father to the Channel4News journalist.

Somayeh Mohammadi told another reporter that her father was an Iranian spy and she would not see him. “He came to Albania to spy on our camp. He has come to Albania to tell people that Mojahedin have abducted me. But this is not true” was the girl’s assertion.

The Mojahedin in the Albanian camp are afraid that former members of the group are spying on them and want to eliminate them.

The journalist also found a former Mojahedin member who shows that life in the MEK camp is not free. He has talked willingly about the division of men and women in the camp and that they should not have any opinion about sex. “During the day, every camp member had to write about sexual thoughts and every evening we should read them in front of others and commanders”, he says.

Plan of Albanian police measures

The journalist has come across the plan of the Albanian police to maintain the Iranian opposition in Albania. The document is titled, “Action Plan for Monitoring and Preventing and Preventing Possible Crime in the Perspective of Iranian Nationals Members of the MEK Organization Hosted in Albania”.

“Currently, in the territory of the Republic of Albania, 2745 Iranian citizens have been sheltered for several years. These citizens are part of the MEK organization, otherwise known as the Iranian opposition. The arrival of Iranian asylum seekers in our country can have implications for internal security, as these individuals are deeply indoctrinated, have been part of military structures, have participated in fighting and acts of terror”, the Albanian police write.

According to the document, Mojahedin Khalq or Iran’s Mojahedin Organization, otherwise known as MEK and PMOI, is a revolutionary Marxist-Islamic group, founded in 1965.

In the secret document of the Albanian police, it is said that three Iranian nationals, separated from the camp and living in Tirana, have had their lives threatened by the MEK. And they have reported this at the police station in Tirana in February 2018.

“With regard to these situations and from the data obtained in the operative, it has been learned that: Previously in Iraq Former members of this organization have been murdered in Iraq after they have appeared publicly in opposition to the organization’s activities with the intent of damaging its cause. As can be seen above, and the statements given by Iranian citizens on the “Fiks Fare” show and the charges made to the police commissariats by these citizens, the time, the way of acting, their behavior is similar to the way in a situation of happened earlier in Iraq.

Along the way, by looking at the indications of the actions and behaviors of the concerned citizens who are currently separated from this organization, there are reasonable grounds for suspicion that this situation is the same as happened in Iraq, which was followed by murder.

Assessing the importance of the above information from the state police institution, a maximum assessment of this situation should be carried out and full measures should be planned as follows:

To undertake a thorough assessment of security measures, to ensure public safety, to prevent any criminal act that may occur between members of the MEK organization and its detained persons.

Assess any information related to this situation in order to prevent possible criminal incidents.

Instruct, engage and maximize the capabilities of all state police officers to recognize and engage in the pursuit of these elements. Identification of all settlements and settlements of Iranian nationals in our country and mainly in Tirana and Durres, “reads in the secret police document of the state.

Ylli Zyla, former Chief of Information Service from 2008-2012, also spoke about this organization. “It is strictly strict and if anyone comes out of their criminal framework they are executed by their own members within themselves”, says Ylli Zyla.

Channel4 contacted MEK but was accused of spying for Iran and wanting to break the Iranian opposition. Meanwhile, the journalist shows the support of many politicians from the United States.

“Maybe, according to journalist Lindsey Hilsum, MEK is more threatened by itself than by Iran. In the camp, while they are not allowed to have children, there will be no new generation.

Outside Tirana, we found in the cemetery those who died of a disease, or even age. Everyone has died without seeing their families, and far from their homes.

0 comment
FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsappTelegramSkypeEmail
Zahra Moeini
Albania

Open letter to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Albania ‎Fatmir Xhafaj

Honorable Mr. ‎Fatmir Xhafaj I , Zahra MOEINI, Iranian – German who had been a captive in Rajavi cult for many years and during those years of captivity , i had been deprived of getting in touch with my family and friends because this cult did not allow me to get in touch with them . I lost my health in that cult . The leaders of this cult had lied to us frequently . Mrs. Homa BASHARDOOST ,one of the members of this cult , who wanted to return to Iran to live with her children , was killed in a fake fire in that cult . Mrs. Roya who was a Iranian kordish woman, got disappeared after she told to Massoud Rajavi in a cult gathering that nobody is waiting for you in Iran .

 

I was witness of those events which I mentioned above . The leaders of this cult forced us to separate from our spouses and the couples who stood up against that , got disappeared .The leaders of this cult separated the couples from their children. They were sent to Iran , Europe, and United States . Some of those children got raped , some got disappeared , some who were brother and sister got separated from each other and were sent to different countries.

In 1992, I was a member of Maryam Rajavi’s security team and with 450 members of this cult ,came to France from Iraq . After coming to France , the operatives of this cult sent me to Germany to work for them in there . I was wounded badly in Iraq in one of the cult operations and the operatives of this cult did not pay attention to my injury and instead they forced me to work and collect money from German people . In 1994 , i found out about their lies ,frauds,and thefts so i decided to escape from them , because if i wanted to say to them that i want to separate , i was going to be disappeared or killed like others who got disappeared or killed before me. I escaped and I went to the German-police and i informed them about this notorious cult in details and because of that Massoud Rajavi got mad and he announced my death-sentence .

Mr Mostafa Mohammady and his wife Mrs Mahbobeh Hamzeh who are both Canadian-citizens have been in Albania to visit and rescue their beloved daughter ,Somayeh Mohammady , since two months ago . They went to Iraq from Canada to visit and rescue their daughter while this cult was in Iraq , but they were attacked and beaten up by the cult operatives . Mr Mohammady the father of Somayeh Mohammady, had been attacked and beaten up by the cult operatives in Auvers Sur Oise (the headquarter of this notorious cult) in outskirt of Paris as well.

Mr. ‎Fatmir Xhafaj ,

The letter sent to you by Miss Somayeh Mohammady , is not her words but the operatives of this cult had written that letter under her name and sent it to you . There has been a new wave of reports in Albanian-Media in support of Mr Mohammady’s family , this shows the real essence and content of this terrorist cult to the Albanian people and politicians , and the operatives of this cult in Albania are trying their best to neutralize Mr and Mrs Mohammady’s efforts to visit and rescue their daughter. In 2 September 2018 , when Rajavi cult and its operatives found out about the Albania public supports and Albania media support towards Mohammady family for the release and rescue of their beloved daughter , they brought her with another person to a tv-program with pre- prepared english writeen statement .

If Somayeh Mohammady is a free person in Rajavi cult and she has chosen freely to stay and work in that cult by her own will ,why are Mrs Maryam Rajavi and her cult operatives not willing to allow Somayeh Mohammady to visit her parents and talk with reporters and media without the presence of the cult operatives to say whatever her will is face to face to her parents and to the media as well?? The Rajavi cult is terrified if Somayeh Mohammady visits her parents freely and talk to them face to face without the presence of cult operatives, she will be impressed by her family and she will decide to separate from Rajavi cult forever and this separation will cause the separation of others in that notorious-terrorist cult so the cult operatives do not want this happens and lose control .

Mr. ‎Fatmir Xhafaj,

I asked Mrs Maryam Rajavi to have a TV-debate with us as her critics even in her own TV-station but so far our request has been ignored . I am ready and willing to share my experiences about this cult with you and with your media in Albania whenever and wherever you want

ALL THE BEST Mrs Zahra MOEINI Germany

Zahra Moeini, Zanan Iran (Women’s Association), Germany,

0 comment
FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsappTelegramSkypeEmail
blank
Albania

Full Exclusive / Camp Incident, Iranian Mojahedin Beat British Journalist

International Affairs Editor on Channel 4, Lindsey Hilsum mistreated, authorities are silent about the event. Minister Fatmir Xhafaj, the highest police authorities, and the British Embassy in Tirana have become aware of this incident.

An attempt was made to keep secret an incident at the Iranian Mojahedin camp in Manzas, Durrës, in which a well-known British journalist and her film crew were beaten. But Shqiptarja.com has discovered all the details of this incident.

Sources from the State Intelligence and Anti-terrorism Services, speaking on terms of anonymity, indicate that the incident occurred on August 10. The whole event was not reported in the daily communiques of criminal events by the police, although it is a scandal, and not a small one.

The Event

At the beginning of August, a British television crew for Channel 4 arrived in Albania, along with the well-known Middle East affairs journalist Lindsey Hilsum. The purpose of their visit was to investigate the lives of the Iranian Mojahedin, who have been given refuge for some years in our country, and the mystery of the newly-built, giant and fortified camp, hosting 3,000 dissidents of the Iranian regime.

Shqiptarja.com learned that on the morning of August 10, Lindsey Hilsum, accompanied by her producer Darius Bazargan, travelled in the direction of Manza, in the Durrës Region, to film the camp. They were accompanied by an Albanian translator.

As Lindsey Hilsum was standing outside the camp’s fence, at the back, trying to look inside the camp, she was pushed, and she was subjected to force by the private security guards, as well as by some Iranians.

An eyewitness told Shqiptarja.com that the attack was immediate and that the journalist was frightened. “They tried to take the camera and break it. The journalist panicked and started screaming, while young man of short stature who accompanied her was grabbed by the throat”, he said.

After a few minutes, an emergency police patrol arrived, which protected the journalist and her crew. They were escorted to the police station where they reported the incident and explained that they were doing their job [as journalists]. After giving their statements, they were released.

The Incident

The entire incident has been filmed by the British film crew and will be broadcast in the next few days on Channel 4. A source aware of the content of the investigation told Shqiptarja.com that the film material provided by British television and the interviews taken show what happens inside the camp which is guarded fanatically so that nothing escapes outside the massive walls of this camp, lying on 26 hectares.

Minister Fatmir Xhafaj, the highest police authorities, and the British Embassy in Tirana have become aware of this incident.

Meanwhile, SHISH has sent Prime Minister Rama a detailed memo about the event. Shqiptarja.com sent an email to producer Darius Bazargan asking him to comment on the event to which he replied to contact his executive producers who would make a public statement later.

Albanianja.com requested a statement about this incident from the Mojahedin spokesman in the Manza camp, who claimed to believe that the TV crew was serving the interests of Iran’s regime’s secret police.

Full Reaction of MEK:

“On Friday, August 10, 2018, a television crew of three, secretly and without prior notice, filmed and photographed within the residence of members of the Mojahedin People’s Organization of Iran (PMOI-MEK), refugees in Albania, from an adjacent place. Local Albanian security agents, who pointed out this suspicious and unlawful act, asked not to film and surrender the footage. But team members, who were introduced as Britons working for British TV Channel 4 TV, disregarded this request and continued their work until the Albanian police came and escorted them to the police district.

“The next day, the news of their visit to the PMOI residence and photos taken there was featured on Facebook’s site by Massoud Khodabandeh, a notorious agent of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry (MOIS), as well as on Iran’s website -Interlink that is run by MOIS. Thus, it became clear that this audio-visual team from Channel 4 is in active communication with this Iranian intelligence agent and has taken the task of preparing a program to denigrate PMOI. But when MOIS realized that the publication of the news and photos had tarnished her conspiracy against Mojahedin, she ordered that they be removed on August 12th.

“On August 10, shortly after the release of the Channel 4 filming team, a PMOI press spokesman wrote an urgent letter to the television channel editor, telling the story and threats facing Mojahedin in Albania: “We are very worried that the filmed videos will fall into the hands of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, “but he did not receive any response. He sent another letter to the editor on August 13 about the release of photographs describing the story of MOIS agent Khodabandeh, and attached two reports from a parliamentary group of the United Kingdom and the Federal Library of Congress’s Library Division about his dependence on MOIS, as well as an explanation from the editor. The letter remains unanswered.

“The claims that the reporter is beaten are completely lied. For your information, the first person claiming the reporter was beaten was Massoud Khodabandeh, the Iranian intelligence agent. So the origin of this claim is the Iranian intelligence ministry. Moreover, if the security personnel who, based on the advice of the Albanian government, are there for protection, would have done something wrong, the police would have banned them, not the reporters. Lies and gathering information about the compound of the MeK are part of preparing the ground for terrorist attacks against Iranian refugees. Similarly, in March a terror plot against their residential complex was prevented and two Iranian “reporters” were arrested.”

It is not yet known whether the Durrës police and prosecutor’s office have investigated this serious incident after receiving the testimony of the British journalist and her crew, or questioned the security guards at the camp, the protagonists in beating the English media people.

This is not an isolated incident between the Mojahedin refugee camps and international media interested in reporting on their lives. Shqiptarja.com learned that some days ago there has been another clash with an English-speaking journalist, The Guardian reporter named Arron Merat.

Profile / Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4 journalist

Lindsey Hilsum is an international news editor on the prestigious British Channel 4 channel. During her career as a journalist, she has covered the world’s main conflicts over the last two decades, including the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, as well as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2011, she reported on the ground the riots and unrest in Egypt, Bahrain and Libya. She has made numerous reports from Iran and Zimbabwe and was the Channel 4 Correspondent in China from 2006 to 2008. During the 2004 American attack on Fallujah, Iraq, she was on the front line of the attack alongside American Marines. She was the only foreign-language journalist who spoke English in Rwanda when the genocide began. Before engaging in journalism, she worked with relief missions in Latin America and Africa.

Her first book “Sand Storm: Libya at the Time of the Revolution” was published in Britain in April 2012 and May of that year in the US.

Hilsum was honored with an honorary doctorate from the English Essay University in 2004 and received awards such as television journalist of the year and was awarded medals by the Royal Geographic Society.

Dissidents

Three thousand opponents of the Tehran regime settled in Albania.

Since 1986, dissenters against the Iranian regime were sheltered in Ashraf camp, built by the United States on Iraqi land, on the border between Iraq and Iran. Their transfer to Albania began when the government of Berisha agreed to accommodate the first 210 Mojahedin who arrived in Tirana in May 2013. All of the Camp Ashraf residents came to Albania following an agreement between Prime Minister Rama and former Secretary of State John Kerry in 2016. The Iranian People’s Mojahedin Organization (MEK) is a movement that acts to overthrow the current regime in Iran.

The 3,000 Iranian Mojahedin who came to Albania previously lived in rented flats, but are now accommodated in the Manzas area, some kilometers from the city of Durres. It is understood that money for the land purchase and construction of new housing within the camp is funded by the community of Iranian dissidents living mainly in Europe. The new housing is surrounded by a security perimeter to avoid any potential risk. The protection of Iranian dissidents coming to Albania is guaranteed by intelligence agents. Meanwhile, the camp is guarded by private guards.

“We will stay in Manza until the end of the dictatorial regime in Iran. Our dream is to go back to our families in a free Iran”, one of them said off-camera for Report TV.

By Muhammad Veliu, Arsen Rusta,Shqiptarja.com, Translated by Iran Interlink

0 comment
FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsappTelegramSkypeEmail
Newer Posts
Older Posts