During the past couple of weeks, the small country of Albania was the source of various news centered on the MEK terrorist group, which finally reached the peak of media coverage with the postponement of the group’s annual conference. A comprehensive review of the events that took place since issuing a warrant to inspect the office of Association for the support of Iranian Living in Albania (ASILA) along with houses and vehicles of several members of the association until the suspension of the annual propaganda campaign of Rajavi’s Cult seems necessary.
These events consisted of several stages. The Albanian counter-terrorism Police executed the warrant issued by the Albanian Prosecutor's Office to search ASILA’s office and a number of its members' residences, and found no evidence suggesting any illegal activities or properties. After a short while, the prime minister's office announced that a massive cyber-attack had been launched against the Albanian government's systems. The statement of the American embassy for the necessity of postponing the MEK’s annual meeting and finally canceling this program was the end of the events that led to widespread reflection in the media.
After ASILA’s office was inspected, the police announced in several reports – which very strangely were not covered by the Albanian media - that nothing illegal had been observed or discovered. The state media, as if they had already prepared their headlines and content, only published the news about questioning ASILA members and inspecting their property and made the situation look as though there exists a grave threat on the part of the Islamic Republic against the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) terrorist group.
It is not known whether a cyber-attack actually took place and if it did, what the scale was and who did it, since no information and proofs have been provided in this regard. But one fact is that the government itself shut down all its websites to prevent such attacks pointing the finger at the Iranian government immediately.
Finally, these coordinated actions ended up in the American embassy in Tirana asking its citizens not to participate in the MEK’s conference due to what they called security threats. Subsequently, the MEK announced the next day that they had canceled this program at the request of the Albanian government. When the MEK’s spokesperson was asked about the nature of the security threat, he replied that he had no information. Let's not forget that an Israeli media outlet mentioned the possibility of a drone threat. In all these media controversies, not a single document was presented to prove the claims. The whole story is shrouded in mystery, but there are some undeniable facts that need to be investigated adequately.
The truth is that if the MEK’s annual conference had been held, it would not have received as much attention in media as its cancellation. It is clear that Rajavi’s cult has a problem with inviting well-known guests. Given the several-year year gap during which the conferences were held online, it was expected that a great face-to-face meeting would be held this year. However, the plans for the meeting were not even remotely as good as those of previous years.
Currently, it seems that the MEK benefited considerably from not having to spend huge sums of money to organize its annual show. Now, in the news which hit the headlines merely for a few hours in the media affiliated with this cult, the MEK was introduced as the oppressed and the Islamic Republic as the oppressor, without providing any evidence.
Meanwhile, the fact that the American embassy entered the case in the last stage is worth reflecting upon. The American embassy in Albania is seemingly superior to the country’s government, and presence of more than two thousand MEK terrorists in Camp Ashraf in Durres shoulder to shoulder with Albanian citizens concedes this point.
In addition, the turbulent situation inside the cult of the Rajavi should also be taken into account. Many of the hostages in Rajavi’s cult may have probably decided to take advantage of the crowd in the conference and escape the group to join ASILA. Leaders of the cult of Rajavi did their best to destroy ASILA but had no luck. Members of ASILA left the Albanian Police Department an hour after interrogation and the next day, they gathered together and published a statement against the disruptive acts of the MEK, and finally, on the day when the MEK’s annual conference was supposed to be held, Rahman Mohammadian's book of memoirs of his captivity in Rajavi’s cult was unveiled and made available to Albanian citizens while ASILA has the least impartial news coverage in the Albanian media.
Therefore, the reason for the suspension of the MEK conference was not the security threat from the Iranian government. In fact, Rajavi’s cult and the US sacrificed an already failed conference for other interests under the pretext of security threats from Iran.