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Reza Moshfegh interviewing Gjergji Thanasi, Tehran Times, September 17 2020:… An Albanian journalist reveals that MEK commanders treat their members as “serfs and as robots”. Pointing to the brutal behavior of MEK ringleaders with their members in their camp, Gjergji Thanasi tells the Tehran Times this fact is enough to predict how brutally MEK will treat the Iranian people if they ever come to power in Iran. He believes if the Rajavi cult comes to power they will transform Iran into a Hell on the earth.MEK commanders treat members like serfs: Albanian journalist
MEK National Security Threat to Albania ; Gjergji Thanasi
MEK commanders treat members like serfs: Albanian journalist
TEHRAN – An Albanian journalist reveals that MEK commanders treat their members as “serfs and as robots”.
Gjergji Thanasi Investigative Journalist
Pointing to the brutal behavior of MEK ringleaders with their members in their camp, Gjergji Thanasi tells the Tehran Times this fact is enough to predict how brutally MEK will treat the Iranian people if they ever come to power in Iran.
He believes if the Rajavi cult comes to power they will transform Iran into a Hell on the earth.
This is the text of the interview:
Q: You have claimed the presence of 7,200 members in the MEK camp in Albania. How did MEK increase the number of its fighters in the Albanian territory between 2016 and 2019, while it was numbered 3,000 when they first arrived in Albania?
A: Albanian authorities offered no precise official figure of MEK members coming to Albania. The best they made public was “several thousand MEK members came to Albania between 2013 and 2016.” Figure 7 000 I made public was based on the data offered by “Instituti i Statistikave” (The Institute of Statistics). This is a government board whose director is appointed by the prime minister himself. This institute published the figure of 7 000 Iranian residents in Albania. Apart from a handful of Iranian diplomats and a score of Iranian (refugees, illegal migrants) in prison or in the refugee center of Kareci, there are virtually no other Iranians in Albania but for the inmates of Ashraf 3 Camp in Manez (Durres Municipality), i.e., the MEK personnel.
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It is simple math that if there are 7 000 Iranian residents in Albania, almost all of them are MEK members. In order to obtain more precise data, you can consult the photos of the data sheets issued by the fore mentioned institute (Instituti i Statistikave). I cannot speculate how the number of MEK members increased. There is a virtual official blackout covering MEK, its membership, and its activities in Albania. The way they enter Albania (what travel documents they use to enter), the way they leave Albania mainly by plane is never made public by the Albanian authorities. We Albanians learn that the cult leader Maryam Rajavi left Albania only occasionally, as in the case when border police and emigration of Belgium refused her entering the Kingdom of Belgium while she was traveling from Albania to Belgium.
Q: Why was Albania chosen as the host country for the MEK?
A: Albania was chosen as a host country for MEK personnel as it was considered as a sui generis “Ersatz”. Virtually no country accepted MEK personnel on their soil. Even Vanuatu refused to accept a dozen of them. In 2013 we accepted little more than 200 MEK members in Albania. Mr. Berisha, the then premier of Albania during the official ceremony of the arrival of the new Iranian ambassador in Tirana, Mr. Gholamhossein Mohammadnia, told the ambassador that we have an understanding with UNCHR and our American partners that a limited number of members of that organization (MEK) will settle in Albania, while the rest will settle in other NATO, and, or EU countries such as Romania and Bulgaria. Premier Berisha also inquired whether the Iranian Embassy was ready to issue travel documents to any of MEK members who wished to return to Iran. The ambassador’s answer was that his embassy staff would not deprive any Iranian consular service. Then in 2016, after the then Secretary of State Kerry visited Albania, hundreds and hundreds of MEK members began arriving in Albania by plane accompanied by officials of UNHCR. I feel very sorry, yet my personal impression was that only the Albanian government in the whole world volunteered to Mr. State Secretary Kerry to serve as a refuge for that “human trash,” i.e., those MEK members arriving and settling in Albania.
Q: Does the Albanian government or the United Nations oversee events inside the MEK camp?
A: There is nothing official! Neither the United Nations nor the Albanian government has ever made public that they oversee or that they do not oversee what happens inside the gated compound called Ashraf 3 Camp in Manez (Durres Municipality). In 2018 a classified document of the General Directorate of the State Police was leaked to the press. This document contained data and facts which prove that our police force tried to keep an eye on the MEK members and their activities. Yet the information contained in this leaked document was generally vague, with a few details or hard facts. Officially no government employee of Albania (police, army, secret service, inner revenue inspectors, health inspectors, municipal police of Durres Municipality, water inspectors, even firefighters) can enter the camp without the express permission of the MEK commanders. When they receive permission to enter the camp, their vehicles (even official police cars with police marking and police plates) are thoroughly searched, even using telescopic mirrors. Then they are ordered to park their vehicles in a designated area, and they proceed on foot. Sometimes even distinguished guests invited by the commanders of the camp (I mean written invitations) are body searched using metal detectors.
When the Municipality of Durres informed MEK that they offered personnel and equipment to disinfect the camp in order to prevent any outbreak of Covid-19 in the camp, they were profusely thanked, and they were very politely declined permission to enter Ashraf 3 Camp.
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Even in case of a pandemic outbreak, the local authorities and even our health ministry representatives were not allowed to enter into the gated compound of MEK in Manez near Durres city. One can imagine how little Albanian authorities can oversee events inside the MEK compound. To properly explain to Iranian public opinion, I shall draw this comparison: It was easier for an Iranian Arab to enter and inspect his land estate during Soviet occupation, let us say in 1942, than for an Albanian official to enter and inspect Ashraf 3 Camp of MEK in Albania let us say in 2020.
Q: What is the role of the United States in supporting the Rajavi cult in Albania?
A: There is a lot of hearsay about the Americans’ role in supporting the “Animal Farm” of Maryam Rajavi in Albania.
Apart from State Secretary Kerry’s visit in 2016, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, in written form to prove American hand or at least U.S. finger in the Ashraf 3 “pie.”
Even the accord between the Albanian government and UNHCR is a closely guarded secret. There is a lot of transparency about, let us say, the investment of 50 million USD by NATO (U.S.) in upgrading the military Airport of Kucova, yet an Albanian or foreign journalist can have no info about that accord, the rights and the obligation of Rajavi cult followers residing in Ashraf 3 Camp!
Yet the way MEK members physically enter the offices of our Ministry of Interior (they have special passes), the way their vehicles traveled during the curfew time (Covid-19 pandemics), without being stopped by police or Albanian Army checkpoints and roadblocks means that their patron was an entity powerful enough to change the Albanian officials and civil servants into obedient Quislings of MEK.
However, no Albanian journalists have seen even a scrap of official paper issued by the U.S. embassy in Albania or any other department of U.S. administration regarding MEK presence in Albania.
Let me give you a personal example. In August 2019, I sued defendant Behzad Saffarin a MEK commander, for libel as he had published articles accusing me of being an infamous spy of Iranian MOIS.
In one year, the first judge of my case resigned not only of my case but also from the justice system to pursue a private-sector career. The judge replacing the former one was arrested some four days ago on corruption charges. The hearing of my case was postponed five times on different grounds. There were seven hearing sessions, yet there is no progress beyond the introduction and identification by the judge of the parties and their lawyers taking part in this legal case! I invite the readers to try to imagine what is that mysterious and powerful entity that pushes Albanian judges to string puppets or ruin their career and sometimes even their personal liberty.
Q: Is the Rajavi cult a pro-democracy group?
A: They treat their members as serfs and as robots. I believe this fact is enough to understand how they will treat the Iranian people if they ever come to power in Tehran.
I have visited Iran, and I can assure anybody that present-day Iran is not Paradise on earth, yet the Rajavi cult seizing power means transforming Iran into “hell” on the earth. To speak of this sect as a pro-democracy group is to tell a tall lie and to be proud of telling such a lie!
Q: What a threat can the MEK pose to Albania’s national security?
A: Our national army is only 6 000 strong (with 5 000 others theoretically in reserve). Imagine for a moment there are 450 000 Albanians with military experience or military trained to live in gated compounds in Iran. Do you feel secure in Iran with foreign “guests” outnumbering your Army? Now imagine some of these foreign “guests” have blood on their hands (Iranians’ blood, Iraqi Shiites’ blood, Kurds’ blood, and even some Americans’ blood); how do an average Iranian in the street feel?
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We have very tough money laundering enforcement laws in Albania. As an Albanian, I am not allowed to transfer even 3 000 Euros to my daughter studying in Germany without filling a lot of forms to declare the origin of the money I am sending to my daughter. A conservative figure of the land and the facilities in Ashraf 3 Camp is 100 million pounds. I defy the MEK cult to make public bank documents for the transfer to Albania of even a fraction of 100 million pounds. How did they transfer that immense sum of money (at least in Albania, it is considered immense) without using bank channels? Why money laundering law enforcement vanishes in the thin air when MEK money is in question? Why the rule of law fails to work for these “guest” on the Albanian soil!?
In 2014 with the U.S. embassy’s aid, the Albanian Parliament drafted and passed a law to severely punish anyone inciting people to wage war against another country. The “inhabitants” of The Animal Farm of the Rajavi cult in Albania 24 hours a day, seven days a week spread propaganda and incite people to wage war against Tehran! I ask the question: Is Iran a country or maybe Iran is some alien spacecraft, so is it the duty of the human race to wage war against such aliens? We Albanians have no cause to go to war against Iran, yet nobody tries to uphold the Albanian law passed in 2014 with the U.S. embassy’s aid and funding in Tirana (USAID funding). Why should my country be transformed into an outpost to wage war against Tehran? As far as I know, Iran has not occupied even an inch of Albanian lands. The last time Iranian fought against the Albanians was some 25 centuries ago when the Persian Army of Xerxes the Great fought against the Greeks, and some Illyrian tribes allied with the Greek city-states (Illyrian are our ancient forefathers).
I fail to see the Albanian national interest at the Albanian administration’s conniving at the fact that this Rajavi cult infringes the 2014 law while inciting war against Tehran. If MEK wants to wage war against Tehran, it can go somewhere else and wage war against their homeland just as they did during “Mirsad Operation.” I strongly believe that Albania’s security is threatened if my Albania is used as a place to recruit an army against Iran, a heavily armed country like Iran!
Q: What is the view of the Albanian people towards MEK and their presence in their country?
A: I cannot speak on behalf of the Albanian people!
MEK commanders treat members like serfs: Albanian journalist
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Behzad Saffari in Iraq and Albania
Gjergji Thanasi Olsi Jazexhi Ask For Protection Against Mujahedin Terrorists In Albania
Gjergji Thanasi and Olsi Jazexhi, Tirana, Albania, August 30 2020:… We urge your ministries to implement the Albanian Penal Code articles on Foreign Fighters, to do its best to deradicalize these Iranian Mujahedin and stop MEK paramilitary organization from using Albania as a base for their attacks against journalism and media… While we are not afraid from MEK’s threats, lies and character assassination, we would like to urge your ministries to grant us full protection against these foreign fighters and ex-terrorist mujahedin. These people have blood on their hands and the possibility exist that we might be physically attacked or even murdered by these violent foreign fighters and ex terrorists. In 2018 they attacked in Tirana the Canadian/Iranian family of Mostafa Mohamady who was even hospitalized after their violent attack. Gjergji Thanasi Olsi Jazexhi Ask For Protection Against Mujahedin Terrorists In Albania
Olsi Jazexhi and Ghergji Thanasi . Discuss The Threat Of MEK To Albanians
Gjergji Thanasi Olsi Jazexhi Ask For Protection Against Mujahedin Terrorists In Albania
A public reply to the Mujahedin’s terrorist threats against our journalist work and ourselves in Albania
Sander Lleshaj Minister of Internal Affairs
Etilda Gjonaj Minister of Justice
CC:
Council of Europe
Human Rights Watch
Reporters Without Borders
A public reply to the Mujahedin’s terrorist threats against our journalist work and ourselves in Albania
Ministers Lleshaj and Gjonaj,
On 23 June, 2020 a number of ex-terrorists Mujahedin who live in Albania as refugees and describe themselves as members of the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK) sent you a public letter where they attack Olsi Jazexhi and Gjergji Thanasi, two Albanian journalists and scholars.
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These foreign fighters who were granted asylum in Albania, are members of a much larger group (MEK) which has a long history of violence and terrorism. Your government has allowed these ex-terrorist and foreign fighters to build a large paramilitary base in our country where thousands of their soldiers and commanders are stationed. By infringing many international and national laws and taking into consideration that MEK was part of US State Department and European Union list of terrorist organizations up to 2012, your government is hosting and allowing them to violate many Albanian laws and intimidate their critics and journalists like us who investigate their wrongdoings. As you might be aware MEK has publicly attacked many well known Western news outlets, like the BBC, Channel 4, Al Jazeera, New York Times and all the Albanian media who revealed to the public their crimes. We have become a target of MEK attacks, too.
In their open letter that they sent to you, they attacked us by claiming:
“Olsi Jazexhi and Gjergji Thanasi publish the content of the Iranian regime’s websites and cover associations on Gazeta Impakt or on their own Facebook pages of which only a limited number of members of the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence are their readers. The Iranian regime then publishes the same material once again on its media as if the Albanian people support the demands of the Iranian notorious Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS). We have been made aware that the regime then distributes the same reports in prisons to justify further pressure on prisoners and our families”
They have called on your ministries:
“to investigate the illicit actions of Olsi Jazexhi and Gjergji Thanasi in favour of religious persecution in Iran and their contribution in the suppression of our families and the advancement of terrorism against Iranian refugees in Albania.”
Their open letter was followed by another attack that the official page of MEK has launched against us on August 10, 2020. In an anonymous article entitled: “How Do Mullahs Operate in Albania after the Expulsion of Two of Their Diplomat-Terrorists?”
MEK has accused us of being local agents of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security. They write:
“Massoud Khodabandeh and his wife Anne Singleton, the notorious London-based MOIS agents, are two who are in daily contact with several MOIS local agents in Albania, including Gjergji Thanasi and Olsi Jazexhi. Thanasi and Jazexhi are in direct contact with MEK defectors recruited by the MOIS, including Hassan Heyrani. The local operatives hang out at a café in the Fresco area of Tirana, where they coordinate their espionage activities. Heyrani, who runs the Café, also pays the rent and other costs involved.”
While it is true that we as investigative journalists and scholars communicate with several Iranians in Albania and abroad, as well as foreign journalists who have their concerns about MEK’s violent and illegal activities, we want to inform your ministries that we are not agents of any foreign country or organization. We have no connections with MOIS or any Iranian state institution. Our journalistic work is not to support any country or foreign entity or any religious repression as these ex-terrorists try to character assassinate us. In our journalistic work we are contacted by many Iranian families and activists who want to find out about the human rights abuse and radicalisation that MEK does against its members who have relatives in Iran and around the world.We do our journalistic duty to serve as a bridge between the victims of MEK’s inhumane treatment of their members and their families back home. With our journalistic work we fulfil our duty to expose and investigate MEK’s lies, human rights abuses, radicalization, espionage and promotion of hatred and war against foreign countries.
While we are not afraid from MEK’s threats, lies and character assassination, we would like to urge your ministries to grant us full protection against these foreign fighters and ex-terrorist mujahedin. These people have blood on their hands and the possibility exist that we might be physically attacked or even murdered by these violent foreign fighters and ex terrorists. In 2018 they attacked in Tirana the Canadian/Iranian family of Mostafa Mohamady who was even hospitalized after their violent attack.
We have noticed in the past weeks that some departments and part of the personnel of your ministries have been at service of MEK. They are indirectly helping MEK in its campaign of persecution of the defectors of the organization and we personally are noticing that your police are also harassing us and our families in the work that we do.
We kindly demand that your ministries investigate the illegal activities and threats that MEK does against journalism in Albania and us in person.We want your ministries to protect us from the threats, intimidation, lies and attacks that MEK carries out against media and journalists in our country.
We urge your ministries to implement the Albanian Penal Code articles on Foreign Fighters, to do its best to deradicalize these Iranian Mujahedin and stop MEK paramilitary organization from using Albania as a base for their attacks against journalism and media.
Sincerely yours
Gjergji Thanasi
Olsi Jazexhi
Gjergji Thanasi Olsi Jazexhi Ask For Protection Against Mujahedin Terrorists In Albania
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A Step Further Than Saddam Hussein!
Also read:
https://iran-interlink.org/wordpress/gjergji-thanasi-in-albanian-responds/
Gjergji Thanasi In Albanian Responds: Tell Families To Wait And Hope
Nejat Society, March 03 2020:… As an Albanian who has extensive information about the MEK and their paramilitary facility near Manez town (Ashraf 3 Camp), I pity the rank and file MEK members who are little more than serfs to their lady owner, the old stateless harpy Maryam Rajavi! As an Albanian I consider Rajavi’s activity in Albania to be a threat to the national security of my homeland and a blatant violation of human rights of the poor cult members! Tell the families to wait and hope… Gjergji Thanasi In Albanian Responds: Tell Families To Wait And Hope .
Gjergji Thanasi In Albanian Responds: Tell Families To Wait And Hope
Response to Nejat Society’s appeal
Mr. Gjergji Thanasi, Albanian author and human rights activist, responded to the appeal by the Iranian Nejat Society’s CEO:
He wrote:
As an Albanian who has extensive information about the MEK and their paramilitary facility near Manez town (Ashraf 3 Camp), I pity the rank and file MEK members who are little more than serfs to their lady owner, the old stateless harpy Maryam Rajavi!
As an Albanian I consider Rajavi’s activity in Albania to be a threat to the national security of my homeland and a blatant violation of human rights of the poor cult members!
Tell the families to wait and hope. Their loved ones momentarily are simply doomed. It is easier to break out from a low security jail than to leave Camp Ashraf 3. The quisling segments in the Albanian government and opposition behave shamefully like lap dogs to that evil woman Rajavi.
Momentarily there is very little you can do. It is virtually impossible to receive an Albanian visa as a holder of an Iranian passport. Only those Iranians who are holders of EU, British, American, Canadian, Australian and New Zeeland passports can enter Albania. Even they will suffer a low level harassment from our police.
Nothing special that cannot be handled by your Albanian lawyer. They will face a vigorous slander campaign on the part of MEK. The usual stuff: spies of the Mullahs’ regime, terrorists of the Quds force, even in case of senior citizens 70 years old or more.
End
Gjergji Thanasi In Albanian Responds: Tell Families To Wait And Hope
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Also read:
ABC News and Ora News, Tirana, Albania, October 26 2019:… On 23 October, the Albanian Chief of Police exposed himself to ridicule by reading out badly a prepared statement written by the MEK disseminating fake news. The statement claimed that a terrorist cell run by an individual in Iran, helped by several named individuals involved in organised crime and a… MEK commanders treat members like serfs: Albanian journalist
Dr. Olsi Jazexhi, Gazeta Impakt, Tirana Albania, October 25 2019:… Ali Safavi has also attacked MEK defectors in Tirana, or more precisely those former Mojahedin who have abandoned terrorism against Iran and have decided to lead a civilian life. Ali Safavi has denounced as Iranian agents some of the deradicalized Mojahedin who live in Tirana and who have given interviews… MEK commanders treat members like serfs: Albanian journalist
FaxWeb and Albanian Gazette, October 24 2019:… State Police Director Ardi Veliu announced at a press conference that a terrorist cell led by a resident of Iran had been prevented from carrying out attacks in Albania against the Mojahedin group sheltered in our country, the MEK, opposition in exile to the Iranian regime. But historian Ols Jazexhi says we are… MEK commanders treat members like serfs: Albanian journalist
City News Albania, October 11 2019:… Journalist Gjergji Thanasi has sued for libel and slander an Iranian Mojahed (a member of the so-called MEK cult organization) named Behzad Saffari Dehkord the son of Mohammad and Rezvan born in 1961 in the city of Esfahan, Iran. When MEK were under the protection of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Behzad has an identification… MEK commanders treat members like serfs: Albanian journalist
Anne Khodabndeh (Singleton), The Iranian, August 19 2019:… President Rama is unrepentant. In an interview with FaxNews (see translation below), journalist and activist Aulon Kalaja commented that Rama has used hosting the MEK for America as an excuse to remain in power and delay the reforms to the judicial system which are necessary if Albania is to accede to the EU.… MEK commanders treat members like serfs: Albanian journalist
Balkans Post, August 10, 2019:… If you ask in private any Albanian politicians – including those who attend the MEK meetings with Maryam Rajavi – as to how much democratic MEK is, they will laugh. The most enthusiastic supporters of the MEK will tell you in private “we know that they are terrorists. But America has told us to support… MEK commanders treat members like serfs: Albanian journalist
Reza Alghurabi, American Herald Tribune, July 21 2019:… Listed for 17 years as a terrorist organization in the United States and the European Union, with various reports published about its violations of Human Rights and acts of violence and terror, the MEK enjoyed a significant increase in its activities during the first term of Prime Minister Edi Rama’s cabinet . The… MEK commanders treat members like serfs: Albanian journalist
Gjergji Thanasi, Gazeta Impakt, Tirana, Albania, June 18 2019:… Former terrorist Maryam Rajavi, leader of the MEK organization of the so-called Iranian Mojahedin of Camp Manez, has filed a lawsuit against German Der Spiegel journalist, Louisa Hommerich, for her article titled ‘Prisoners of Their Own Rebellion’ published by Der Spiegel on February 16, 2019. Among other things, the MEK organization… MEK commanders treat members like serfs: Albanian journalist
Gjergji Thanasi, Gazeta Impact, April 06 2019:… During the years of Prime Minister Rama several thousand members of this organization (from 2000 to 4000) came to Albania from Iraq, but also from other countries such as Bulgaria. The organization claims that from its Albanian base called Camp Ashraf 3 it continues to carry out a fierce fight against the legitimate government… MEK commanders treat members like serfs: Albanian journalist
Iran Interlink, March 01 2019:… Nejat Association announced the launch of campaign group ‘Mothers of the Forgotten Victims, led by mothers of the MEK’s hostages. The group pledges to bring to public attention the “crimes of the backers of hostage takers and terrorists”, who misuse their power to the point that for decades they have denied families the straightforward human right… MEK commanders treat members like serfs: Albanian journalist
Gli Occhi Della Guerra, Rome, Italy, January 07 2019:… The Albanian investigative journalist Gjergj Thanasi had followed the case and had managed to show how the two were in fact [retired] Iranian journalists invited by the well-known Bektashi Albanian community for the celebrations of the Shiite festivity of Nowruz and to attend a conference on Imam Ali. Their visas had been… MEK commanders treat members like serfs: Albanian journalist
Iran Interlink, January 04 2019:… A bus filled with university students overturned on a mountainous road killing tens of students. Students from the Free University of Tehran held a sit-in asking the authorities for answers. Maryam Rajavi jumped on the bandwagon in her websites trying to link herself with the student action. The students quickly published an announcement not only distancing… MEK commanders treat members like serfs: Albanian journalist
