Shahriar Kia, director of the press office of the People’s Mojahedin of Iran Organization, speaks

Mojahedin in Albania is a liberation movement.

Q1: Please tell us a little about the residents of Ashraf 3

A: The residents of Ashraf 3 have voluntarily chosen to join the Mujahideen organization to resist the Iranian regime. More than a thousand residents of Ashraf3 are former political prisoners of the regime of the Shah and then the mullahs in Iran. The Mojahedin Organization was founded in 1965 based on the principles of democratic, tolerant, and humane values ​​of Islam. The main goal of this organization is to create a democratic government based on people’s vote and free elections.

For 44 years, the Mojahedin organization has led a struggle for the freedom and sovereignty of the people against the current dictatorial regime ruling Iran. More than 120,000 people, most of whom were members of the Mojahedin, were martyred by this regime. In the summer of 1988, the regime massacred 30,000 political prisoners, 90% of whom were Mujahidin, in a few months.

Mujahedin gained the Iranian people’s trust as its organization’s principal capital because of the sacrifices of its members and leaders. Based on the trust towards the Mujahedin, the organization could benefit from comprehensive support among Iranian people, especially women and youth.

Q 2 Many international personalities have come to Albania to visit Ashraf and stressed their support to Ashraf residents; why is Mujahedin so crucial for them?

A: The Mojahedin and their goals, which are included in the ten-point program of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the Iranian resistance, have international support among the majority members of the US Congress and the Senate, the European Parliament, and the Parliament of European countries, Canada and Australia, 124 former presidents of states, and 75 of the Nobel laureates. They believe that the only way to establish peace and security in the Middle East and many other countries is to change the regime in Iran, and this could be reached only by the people and the organized Iranian resistance that has been keeping the resistance alive for 44 years.

Q3: You have repeatedly talked about the Iranian regime’s demonization campaign against the Mujahideen. On the other hand, the Iranian regime or, as you say, associations affiliated with it have made accusations against you. What is your response to these accusations?

A: The Iranian regime is trying to discredit and tarnish the image of the Mujahideen by spreading false information and attacking the Mujahideen, which, as I said, has gained public trust.

The lies of the Iranian regime create serious security threats for the Mujahideen and put the lives of the residents of Ashraf3 at risk of terrorist acts. As the Albanian police disclosed, the regime’s agents in Albania are looking for the identities of the Mujahideen members. In March 2018, the Albanian police identified and exposed the same agents who planned to bomb the Mujahedin’s Nowruz gathering.

Also, one of these agents hired in Albania, named Hadi Thani Khani, who worked with the Iranian Embassy for four years, left them, wrote an open letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations, and published a book revealing the names and methods of recruiting the regime’s agents in Albania. He said that the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence would pay 300 Euros for every article that the agents publish in the media under the title of former members of Mujahideen and up to 1000 Euros based on the number of articles.

The claims of the Iranian regime and its agents in Albania against the Mujahideen are not new. Ever since the mullahs’ regime came to power, this lying has continued until today. For example, the claim that the residents of Ashraf3 are not allowed to contact their families, or that they are an isolated community in Albania and are confined in Ashraf3 and are not allowed to leave the compound, etc., is a repetition of the lies that the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence has written many times in its media. I said earlier that all the members of the Mujahideen joined the ranks of the Mujahideen by their own choice and voluntarily. They have free movement, contact with the Albanian people, contact with their families, and are free to go wherever they want to pursue their normal life. An organization that carries out such a struggle can only continue with the voluntary choice of each of its members, especially against a dictatorial regime. We are committed to freeing our people. Such a commitment is not possible without complete sacrifice. Another of the measures taken by the regime is the suppression, arrest, and torture of Mujahideen families inside Iran.

In this regard, the Ministry of Intelligence of the Iranian regime has organized its agents in Albania under the guise of an association called “ASILA and, later, ‘”The Nejat Society.”‘ The main center of “Nejat Society” is in Iran, which belongs to the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC Quds Terrorist Force. The primary mission of the “Nejat Society” inside Iran is arresting, torturing, and suppressing members and families of the Mujahideen and demonizing and lying against the Mujahideen abroad. The Iranian regime has recently set up a branch in Albania. The mission of the Albanian branch is to spy and spread false information and run a demonization campaign against the Mujahideen to lay the groundwork for terrorist activities against the residents of Ashraf3. A US Library of Congress investigating report sponsored by the Department of Defense, the Pentagon, reveals that Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence used the head of the Nejat Society for a campaign of lies against the Mojahedin.

On the other hand, thousands of Albanian people and journalists from this country have come to Ashraf3 and talked and interviewed the members of Mujahideen. The Albanian people have admired the sacrifice of the Mujahideen and sacrificed their lives and well-being to be full-time in the opposition against the Iranian regime.

Q 4: How is your relationship with the Albanian people? Some people think that you are isolated inside Ashraf3. What do you think about this?

A: Our relationship with the Albanian people is based on mutual and close understanding. We have a very close relationship with the Albanian people.

The door of Ashraf has always been open to all Albanian people and the doors of Albanian people’s houses are open to the residents of Ashraf. We consider ourselves as part of the Albanian society, which sheltered them during the hardships of resistance against the dictatorship in Iran.