June 4, 2019 – following the April 1, 2019 letter of Mr. Behzad Saffari, the legal advisor of the PMOI in Albania addressed to Mr. Amund Djuve, the editor-in-chief of the Norwegian Dagens Næringsliv (DN) regarding a collaboration between Eskil Engdal from Dagens Naeringsliv newspaper with an agent of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security of the Iranian regime against the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, PMOI/MEK in Albania, Mr. Parviz S Khazai, the Nordic Representative for National Council of Resistance of Iran in Oslo wrote a letter on May 27, 2019 to Jøran Kallmyr Minister of Justice of the Kingdom of Norway giving further details of this case.
The full text of Mr. Kazai’s letter to the minister follows:
Oslo 27. May 2019
Honorable Jøran Kallmyr Minister of Justice of the Kingdom of Norway
Dear Mr. Minister
Respectfully, I am attaching a copy of the letter of April 1, 2019 of the PMOI legal counsel in Albania to you which has expressed concerns about the behaviour of Mr. Eskil Engdal, a reporter of Dagens Næringsliv in coming along with an agent of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) called Gjergji Thanasi to the residence of PMOI opposition group and refugees in Albania which is protected by the local authorities from the plots of the Iranian regime.
How this agent lured Mr.Engdal to this unexpected visit to this highly endangered camp, it remains to be seen. Such behaviors do not meet the standards of professional journalism at all. You kindly read the content of this letter.
These behaviors, of course, were not limited to his coming to Albania and questionable communications and contacts with MOIS agents there, but after this trip, such behaviors and contacts have been continued.
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) have always been the primary target of the clerical regime's terrorism and espionage. The German Department for the Protection of Constitution, the Dutch intelligence service, as well as many other European countries agencies, including the Norway`s PST, have consistently emphasized in recent years that one of the main mission of the intelligence services of the Iranian regime abroad is following and plotting against the PMOI and the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
But here, I want to share with you two issues that worry us about the behavior of this reporter.
First – The journalism cover has always been used by the regime. On July 9, 2017, Ali Fallahian, former Iranian regime’s Minister of Intelligence, who was a planner of the assassination of Dr Kazem Rajavi, representative of the National Council of Resistance in Geneva in April 1990, assassination of Iranian Kurdish leaders in Berlin in September 1992, assassination of Mohammad Hossein Naqadi, representative of the NCRI in Italy, 1993 and many other assassination plots, said in an interview:
“The ministry needs cover for its works to collect information both inside the country and outside. It is obvious that we do not send an agent to Germany or America and for example say, ok, I am an agent of the information ministry and I am here to collect information, please give that to me. Obviously, he would work under the cover of business or other jobs including reporters. You know many of our reporters are actually ministry agents.”
In March 2018, a plot to bomb the PMOI New Year celebration in Tirana was foiled and two of the agents of the Ministry of Intelligence who were sent to Albania under the cover of reporters were arrested and expelled. In this regard, a few months later, the regime's Ambassador to Albania and the head of its intelligence station were expelled from Albania. President Trump praised the Prime Minister of Albania in a letter, which is enclosed.
This year, in 16 February, a reporter of German Der Speigel who worked for two years in Iran, was lured and probably bribed by the MOIS, published a series of baseless and biased allegations in order to demonize and tarnish the face of the most organized and the largest opposition group both inside and outside of Iran. Upon a complaint filed by NCRI, a verdict has been announced by the Hamburg court against Der Spiegel. On 26 March this year, the Associated Press wrote: “A German court has ordered weekly magazine, Spiegel, to pull passage from an article that an exiled Iranian opposition group engaged in "torture” and “psycoterror”, saying the article didn`t support the allegations. The Hamburg state court said in its ruling that it would fine the magazine 250.000 euros (about 282.000 dollars) if the passage about the Mujahedeen-e-Khalgh camp in Albania weren`t removed". Kindly see the enclosed statement about this case.
Second – The role of the regime's embassy in Oslo is well-known to you for organizing such plots. The regime's embassy played a significant role in such dangerous activities. You are aware about the relations of the mullahs’ regime embassy and regime ambassador in Norway such as his close ties with the terrorist arrested in Denmark, Mohammad Davoodzadeh Louloui. He was arrested for participating in a terrorist plot against Iranian dissidents in Denmark.
The statement of the NCRI’s Security Committee is attached.
It is widely noticed that the role of other embassies of the regime in crimes, terror plots and spying against the opposition in the past year has risen unprecedentedly. In last July, Assadollah Assadi, a so-called diplomat in Austria was arrested in Germany and extradited to Belgium, while he was delivering a highly lethal bomb to two other terrorists in Luxembourg to be placed in the 30 June huge rally of NCRI in Paris. Since that date, he and the two others are awaiting trial in Belgium. In addition to this, I draw the attention of your honor, to the expulsion of a regime diplomat from the embassy in France and two other diplomats from the Netherlands in the same period.
While I myself, as an Iranian-Norwegian citizen, appreciate the democracy of Norway, which is among the few best in the world, needless to remind us all that democracy is very vulnerable to infiltrations, misuse and plots from unhuman totalitarian regimes.
Dear Minister
In light of the above mentioned facts, in order to prevent the repetition of experiences such as the plot of the arrested terrorist, Mohammad Davoudzadeh, currently under custody in Denmark, I request your honour to remain aware of this case and to take all necessary legal measures to make Norwegian society and its great democracy safe for all the freedom loving people living here.
Perviz S Khazai former act-ambassador in Sweden and Norway
Nordic Representative for National Council of Resistance of Iran – Oslo
