US Says Albania’s Raid On Iranian MEK Compound Legal
The US has copped out of condemning the Albanian police raid into Camp Ashraf, a township where members of exiled opposition group Mojahedin-e-Khalq reside.
The US has copped out of condemning the Albanian police raid into Camp Ashraf, a township where members of exiled opposition group Mojahedin-e-Khalq reside.
“The Albanian State Police have assured us that all actions were conducted in accordance with applicable laws, including with regard to the protection of the rights and freedoms of all persons in Albania,” read a statement issued on Tuesday.
Having found itself in quite a precarious predicament after dozens of Iranian dissidents seeking safe haven in Albania were reportedly injured Tuesday and one allegedly died in the raid, the State Department said it has been "assured" the Albanian government did not violate any human rights.
The State Department, which usually does not keep silent about such actions, and especially not against a group known to be active against the Islamic Republic, not only did not condemn the unexpected raid, but also distanced itself from the dissident group, raising concerns about the group’s actions against its own members.
"The State Department continues to have serious concerns about the MEK as an organization, including allegations of abuse committed against its own members,” noted the statement.
The State Department, however, pointed to the Albanian police accusations that the inhabitants of the camp were involved in cyberattacks against the Albanian government, adding, “We support the Government of Albania’s right to investigate any potential illegal activities within its territory."
Emphasizing that Washington does not view the MEK as “a viable democratic opposition movement that is representative of the Iranian people,” the State Department said, “The US government does not provide support or training to the MEK, does not contribute funding to the organization, and does not maintain substantive contact beyond issues related to the MEK’s resettlement, which was completed in 2016.”
Earlier on Tuesday, MEK said about a thousand Albanian police officers raided the group's exile center, Camp Ashraf, using tear gas and pepper spray. The group said that one of their members, identified as Ali Mostashari, was killed and more than a hundred others injured.
Despite initial denials, Albanian Interior Minister Bledi Cuci and the head of the national police, Muhamet Rrumbullaku, said both police officers and Iranian dissidents were injured during the raid at the Ashraf-3 camp near Manze, a small hill-town 30 kilometers (about 20 miles) west of Albania’s capital. However, the authorities disputed that the raid caused the man’s death.
Alleging that the attack was instigated by the Iranian regime, the MEK claimed that the actions by the Albanian police are “reminiscent of the criminal attacks by forces of Nouri al-Maliki (former prime minister of Iraq) on the original Camp Ashraf in Iraq between 2009 and 2015.”
Camp Ashraf 3 compound in Durres, Albania, is MEK's first home outside the Middle East established a few years after the 2013 massacre in the original Camp in Iraq in which 52 members died and seven went missing, leading to the relocation of the group.
In September 2022, Albania severed its relations with the Islamic Republic and expelled all Iranian diplomats and embassy staff following an investigation into a large-scale cyberattack that targeted the country’s infrastructure in July. The attack happened around the time of a conference held by the MEK.
The Tuesday attack against the de facto headquarters of the MEK took place about a month after the MEK-affiliated hacktivist group Uprising till Overthrow breached into 120 servers of the Iranian presidential office, getting access to internal communications, meetings minutes, and leaking troves of confidential data.
The group said on Tuesday that one of their members, identified as Ali Mostashari, was killed and more than a hundred others injured, with some hospitalized in critical condition after police raided the camp using tear gas and pepper spray. The group alleged that the attack was instigated by the Iranian regime.
Albanian authorities denied any loss of life or injuries, claiming that the incident happened due to the group’s refusal to cooperate with the police.
“This morning around 1,000 Albanian policemen attacked Ashraf in a criminal and suppressive onslaught,” the group said in a statement, adding: “They broke many doors, closets, and equipment and attacked the residents with tear gas and pepper spray. Many computers were broken or taken away.”
The MEK claimed that the actions by the Albanian police are “reminiscent of the criminal attacks by forces of Nouri al-Maliki (former prime minister of Iraq) on the original Camp Ashraf in Iraq between 2009 and 2015.”
According to Albanian local media, the raid was carried out following a decision by the country’s organization of Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime (GJKKO) at Ashraf 3 and Ashraf 4 camps in Manzë town, in the city of Durrës, where the group has been in exile since 2014, settling in Albania for humanitarian purposes.
Albania’s police said it had suspicions that there may be people in the premises involved in cyberattacks against Tirana as well as criminal “acts of larger dimensions.”
The country’s Ministry of the Interior defended the raid, calling it a 'check' and saying that it complied with state laws.
The suspected perpetrators of the cyberattacks, who are being interrogated following their apprehension, are believed to be infiltrators of the Islamic Republic regime, Albanian Daily News reported. According to the news website, leaders of the camp had reported on several occasions that they suspected regime infiltrators among them.
The police also said that the operation followed a request by the organization for permits to hold an event inside the camp on July 1 as a measure to prevent any risks. The Tuesday incident came a day after Reuters reported that France banned an upcoming MEK rally over the risk of an attack.
In September 2022, Albania severed its relations with the Islamic Republic and expelled all Iranian diplomats and embassy staff following an investigation into a large-scale cyberattack that targeted the country’s infrastructure in July. "This extreme response...is fully proportionate to the gravity and risk of the cyberattack that threatened to paralyze public services, erase digital systems and hack into state records, steal government intranet electronic communication and stir chaos and insecurity in the country," Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said at the time.
The attack happened around the time of a conference held by the MEK. In early August, cybersecurity firm Mandiant expressed “moderate confidence” the attackers were acting in support of Tehran’s efforts to disrupt the MEK conference, which had to be cancelled as well due to a terror threat.
In its report, the company said that several factors reveal that the attack was carried out by pro-Iran hackers, including the timing, the content of a social media channel used to claim responsibility, and similarities in software code used with malware long used to target Farsi and Arabic speakers.
The July 2022 conference by the dissident group, titled The Free Iran World Summit, was canceled following warnings from local authorities of a possible terrorist threat. Several US lawmakers were also among the invitees.
MEK, a revolutionary organization with a Marxist-Islamist ideology emerged before the Iranian revolution in 1979 and for a time supported the new Islamist government in Tehran. But soon the ruling clerics decided they would not tolerate leftists and other organizations remaining active and launched bloody repression. MEK was exiled and many found refuge in Iraq under Saddam Hussein who helped them continue their fight against the government in Tehran.
Mohammad Reza Tajik wrote his article in the reformist Etemad newspaper in a cryptic language filled with phrases from religious books in a way that would presumably save him from a punitive reaction by the government.
Tajik, an open-minded intellectual, became too cautious and evasive following his arrest and imprisonment after the disputed presidential election in 2009 that re-instated Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a second term.
Tajik argued that the massive wave of emigration out of Iran is the people’s reaction to ongoing social and political chaos and the resulting despair that has overwhelmed the Iranian society. Multiple crises have brought the Islamic government to the brink of a downfall.
He quoted Iranian philosopher Javad Tabatabaei as saying that European visitors to Iran in the late 19th century and early 20th century attributed Iran's political collapse in that period to the wave of emigration out of the country.
Both then and now, a majority of Iranians who leave the country for good are either well-educated experts who find the government too repressive and backward and prefer to move to developed countries, or wealthy Iranians who believe the country's long-standing and worsening political and economic crises will endanger their capital and investments in Iran.
This process drained Iran of its human and financial resources, Tabatabaei quoted European visitors as saying. At the same time, the migrations make the country's situation even worse, by decimating human capital and leaving very little if any motivation for the rest of the elite to stay in the country.
Tajik wrote in his article, that the only thing the government can do to stop this destructive trend is to surrender to essential changes that have been part of the demands by protesters and by politicians since last year, such as former President Hassan Rouhani. However, Iranian observers have said over and over that the regime finds it hard to undermine its authority and succumb to reform.
According to Tajik, recent opinion polls conducted in Iran show that an increasing number of the well-educated elites are considering emigrating as their last resort. He added that Iranians have been among the first five nations taking part in the US immigration lottery. As a result of the wave of migrations, Iran's population is expected to fall by 16 percent which could translate into a 27-percent decline in talented workforce and a 19-percent decline in the number of people in their 20s and 30s.
Other reports in Iran say the age of emigrants has dropped so much that even high school adolescents are among those who put pressure on their families to leave the country for good. Reports indicate that young Iranians are taking English classes more seriously than their other lessons, hoping to facilitate their relocation to countries such as Canada, which is currently the number one destination because of the relative ease in obtaining visas. Some reports say many of those who are considering emigration do not plan to return to Iran.
There have been many complaints in recent months about the emigration of medical staff from Iran. On the other hand there are many websites that offer guidance for doctors and nurses who wish to leave Iran.
Tajik noted that most of those who leave Iran wish to go to countries that the government has been branding as "enemies." This is a bitter irony, he said. It is also sad for Iranians who think they have wasted their money and other resources on training a workforce that is now going to leave the country for good.
This, in other words, marks a defeat for the Islamic Republic’s ideologically designed educational system. The outcome of the policies that have led the country to this stage is nothing but a defeat, about which Tajik wisely did not elaborate any further.