Iran opposition criticises US support for Albania after controversial raid

Washington says it has 'serious concerns' over People's Mojahedin group, which claims one person died and more than 100 were injured at camp west of Tirana

Members of the People's Mojahedin at a protest on Tuesday after the Albanian police raid. AFP

A coalition linked to Iranian opposition the People's Mojahedin (MEK) has described as “shameless” US support for Albania after local security forces conducted a controversial raid on the group on Tuesday.

Albania's Special Court Against Crime and Corruption conducted the raid over concerns that the MEK had been involved in terror and cyber attacks.

The MEK says that a man named Ali Mostashari died and more than 100 of its members were wounded at the Ashraf-3 camp near Manze, a small town 30km west of Albania’s capital Tirana.

Albanian authorities have disputed that the raid caused the man's death and have said that both police officers and Iranian dissidents were injured.

The US State Department said on Tuesday that it supported Albania's right to investigate any potentially illegal activities within its territory and had “serious concerns” about the MEK, which advocates the overthrow of the Iranian regime.

“The US doesn't see MEK as a viable democratic opposition movement that is representative of Iranian people,” it said.

On Wednesday, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition that includes the MEK, criticised the US for questioning its legitimacy.

The US lacks “the authority to decide who represents the Iranian people”, said the NCRI, which wants the overthrow of Iran's current leadership.

“The responsibility for determining who represents the Iranian people rests with the Iranian people themselves in a free election within a democratic republic,” it said.

The MEK was listed as a terror organisation by the US between 1997 and 2012 and the EU between 2002 and 2009. It was delisted after intense lobbying by the group.

The NCRI accused Albania's Ministry of Interior of dismissing “abundant evidence available in Albanian media, social networks and international media, including photos and videos documenting the incident”.

It also said that police had initially positioned two machine guns aimed at the complex.

The National has contacted the NCRI for evidence linking Mostashari's death to the raid.

Albanian authorities seized 150 computers allegedly linked to prohibited political activities during the raid.

Albanian Interior Minister Bledi Cuci and national police head Muhamet Rrumbullaku referred questions about the alleged violations to prosecutors, saying police were only carrying out a court order to seize evidence.

The agreement the government signed with the MEK when Albania agreed to shelter members of the group in 2013 states that they cannot to engage in any political activity and must abide by the country's laws.

About 2,500 Iranian exiles who were initially housed in separate locations built the Ashraf-3 camp in 2019. It consists of 127 buildings in an area of 40 hectares, which Mr Rrumbullaku says is Albanian territory.

Some camp residents tried to block the police officers who moved in to seize the computers kept in 17 buildings and their leaders did not co-operate, Mr Rrumbullaku said.

Fifteen officers were injured after they used pepper spray used to defend themselves, with 21 Ashraf-3 residents requiring hospital treatment.

Mr Cuci said he was “indignant and offended” by the reception police received.

The MEK began as a Marxist group opposed to the rule of Iran's then-shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. It supported the 1979 Islamic Revolution but soon fell out with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and turned against his clerical government, carrying out a series of assassinations and bombings.

MEK members later fled into Iraq and backed Saddam Hussein during his eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s, leading many people in Iran to oppose the group. Although now largely based in Albania, the group claims to operate a network inside Iran.

Ties between Iran and Albania have been tense since Albania gave MEK members a safe haven a decade ago.

Albania suffered a cyberattack last year that the government and multinational technology companies blamed on the Iranian Foreign Ministry. The attack led the government to suspend diplomatic relations with Iran.

Tehran denied it was behind the attack and claimed Iran has suffered cyberattacks from the MEK.

The US, Nato and the EU supported Nato member Albania in the dispute, with Washington vowing unspecified retaliation against Iran for what it called “a troubling precedent for cyberspace”.

Agencies contributed to this report