Reporting by PMOI/MEK
January 31, 2020—The Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama joined the NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in a press conference in Brussels on January 29.
In his remarks, Prime Minister Edi Rama addressed the relations between the Albanian government and the Iranian regime.
Rama stated that Albania will continue to shelter the members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK) who are now gathered in Ashraf 3 as a part of humanitarian efforts. “Albania is proud to have offered shelter to a few thousand people whose lives were threatened by the regime in Tehran. It’s part of our tradition. It is part of what we are. We were the only country that after the second world war had more Jews than before, so we know very well that for Jews, Albania was a safe home during the time of the Holocaust. So, we did it as a humanitarian operation,” he said.
#Albanian Prime Minister @ediramaal Says His Country Won’t Change Its Approach Toward #Iran’s Opposition #MEK https://t.co/ThDLyPQuh1#FreeIran2020
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) January 30, 2020
Edi Rama reiterated that his country will not change its decision in hosting the PMOI/MEK, linking this decision to the Albanian proud history and traditions, saying, “We are really not at all going to change our tradition and also our approach towards these people who need to be protected by a regime who is a threat for their lives.”
Referring to the Iranian regime’s malign activities abroad and the regime’s terrorists’ network in IRGC Quds forces, Edi Rama once again shed light on the Iranian regime’s act of terror under its diplomatic coverage, “And that’s for their malicious activities in Albania we’ve been very clear. We have expelled their ambassador first, and now lately, other people that were involved in activities that are out of the diplomatic regulated mission and we will continue to stand strong,” said Edi Rama.
Twenty anti-terrorism officers of the Albanian government escorted the two diplomats and their families from their apartments to the airport, supervising their final departure from Albania under extremely tight circumstances.#Iranhttps://t.co/KI3NdAGCFt
— People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 21, 2020
Previously Edi Rama told the UNGA, “Albania is particularly concerned by Iran’s destabilizing behavior in the Middle East but also often disruptive activities in relation to the Iranian opposition community who have generously been hosted in our country after having been subject to despicable massacres elsewhere.”
Albania hosted over 2,500 members of PMOI/MEK in 2016, relocated from Iraq to Albania through international efforts.
“We are on the right side of history.”
In April 2018, the Albanian Prime Minister revealed the Iranian regime’s terror plot against PMOI/MEK in Albania. “We are on the right side of history. We are among European-Atlantic countries that are similarly under threat. I believe all these countries will act against terrorist threats,” said Edi Rama.
In December 2018, the Albanian government expelled Gholamhossein Mohammad Nia, the regime’s ambassador to Albania, and Mostafa Roudaki, the Intelligence Ministry’s (MOIS) station chief in Albania, who were both senior MOIS officials and were exposed by the Iranian Resistance in 2016 and 2017. Mohammad Nia was the MOIS representative in the delegation headed by the regime’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif during the nuclear talks that led to the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
In January 2020, Albania expelled two other diplomats were in direct contact with the now-dead IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani, according to Albania’s Top Channel TV station. The two diplomats declared personae non-gratae were Mohammad Ali Arz Peimanemati and Seyed Ahmad Hosseini Alast. Both were also heads of the Saadi Shirazi Foundation and school. The school was closed by the government afterward.
