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🇦🇱 🇮🇷 - Albania hands over MEK hard drives to Iran: Official
The head of Iran’s Information Council, Sepehr Khalaji, revealed on 3 June that the Albanian government delivered a shipment of hard drives and computer cases belonging to the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) organization.
Khalaji said on Twitter that technicians are engaged in data retrieval from the devices. “The results have been promising so far,” he added.
The devices were retrieved last month during a raid of the MEK headquarters, known as Ashraf III, in the northwestern region of the capital Tirana.
MEK fighters violently confronted the raid, with dozens of injuries reported.
Authorities seized 150 computer devices from the western-backed group Iran recognizes as a “terrorist organization.” According to Tehran, out of nearly 17,000 Iranians killed in terror attacks over the past four decades, about 12,000 were victims of the MEK.
Tirana launched the raid on 20 June after a court order was issued to investigate unsanctioned political activities, including, at the very least, cyber-attacks directed against third countries and mass online harassment of the group’s many opponents.
Thousands of MEK members have been living in the Albanian capital since 2014 thanks to a US-brokered agreement that allowed them to relocate from Iraq, where they cooperated with Saddam Hussein in the latter stages of the Iran-Iraq war.
During an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel published on 30 June, Albania Prime Minister Edi Rama said, “Our Iranian guests have repeatedly violated [the US-brokered] agreement.”
He also stressed that “Albania has no intention of being at war with [Iran]” and that the country “does not accept anyone who has abused our hospitality.”
On Sunday, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry hailed Tirana’s raid on the MEK compound, calling it a “step forward” and stressing that Tehran “consistently” warns EU intelligence services about MEK activities.
The ministry also announced it had started to “seriously pursue” anti-Iran extremists beyond the country’s borders.
This announcement came a few days after Iranian Brigadier General Esmaeil Kowsari said: “For several months, there have been communications between the security apparatuses of Iran and countries such as Albania, and it has had very positive results.”
