From Spring 2013 till late 2016 the Rajavi Cult was transferred from Baghdad to Albania. They set up shops in Albania thanks to an opaque agreement between Albanian government and UNHCR.
The agreement was backed politically and financially by the then American administration. The Cult was transferred from the outskirts of Tirana, the Albanian capital, to a gated compound named Ashraf 3 Camp at Manez, a township part of Durres municipality. Ashraf Camp is situated at a quite strategic location in equidistance from Tirana, the capital city. Durres is the main port and the second biggest city of Albania and Rinas Airport was the only civilian airport in Albania up to a couple of years ago.
The Rajavi Cult gradually became a security concern and a public order headache to Albania, the host country. Unfortunately, the Rama government had to yield to almost any whimsical demand of the Cult. Albania, a NATO member and European country candidate for EU membership, had to connive at gross violations of human rights committed beyond the chicken wire mash surrounding Ashraf camp. As an Albanian, a journalist, citizen I was ashamed of the Albanian government and its approach towards the Rajavi Cult. The bootlicker government said yes to almost every Rajavi Cult decision and practice such as: marriage is “haram”, having kids “haram”, family “haram”, talking to family members (let alone meeting them) “haram”, slave like unpaid work by elderly and frail health members “halal”, murder of Cult members disguised as swimming accident “halal”, murder of an Albanian citizen disguised as work accident “halal”, harassment of dissidents of the Cult “halal”, engagement in terror activities against a sovereign nation “halal”, etc.
NGO ASILA
In October 2021 the dissidents of the Rajavi Cult in Albania and some Albanian friends of them supported an initiative by Hassan Heyrani to establish and duly register at the respective Albanian institutions an NGO named ASILA (Association for the Support of Iranians in Albania). Our NGO immediately became an eyesore to the Rajavi Cult. The dissidents of this Cult and their Albanian friends were a constant target of a slander campaign by Rajavi and her well-paid friends among current and former foreign politicians.
ASILA under the firm hand of its CEO Mersuli struggled on and enlarged its activity to the benefit of its Iranian members, but also serving as a beacon of hope and an image of freedom for the poor and downtrodden inmates of Ashraf 3 Camp at Manez. A number of people defected sometimes even in uncanny ways from the Cult. Freedom for such a Cult is as harmful and deadly as sunlight to a vampire. The existence and the example of a normal life beyond Ashraf 3 was deadly to the Cult, i.e. the Cult and its foreign overlords exerted pressure on the Albanian government to dismantle ASILA or at least to neutralize it. From July 2021 every trick in the book was tried against ASILA. A search warrant for premises of NGO ASILA as well as the homes and cars of a dozen Iranian members of ASILA was signed by a judge in Tirana. These Iranian dissidents were questioned for several hours by the “Tonton Macoutes” of the Counter Terrorism directorate of the Albanian State Police. The net result was nil. Police seized no drugs, weapons, explosives, stolen goods, forged papers, etc. The whole operation turned out to be a typical “too much ado for nothing.”
MEK returned to its old ways of violently attacking a book fair in Durres (a book fair supported by the Ministry of Culture and Durres Council) only because ASILA had its modest stall in the book fair. As always, the Rajavi Cult is allergic to books! Representatives of ASILA lodged an official complaint with Durres police and duly sued the Cult members and commanders who attacked the book fair. Unfortunately, perpetrators of such a crime were released within 12 hours after being held in police custody.
By autumn 2022 the activity of ASILA and the flow of defections of inmates from Ashraf 3 Camp increased. Even an insipid and highly unprofessional but official report published by Microsoft slandering the CEO and the Secretary General of ASILA failed to deter ASILA and its members.
Rajavi and her criminal Cult were engulfed in an existential crisis not only by the activity of ASILA but also because of the utter failure of their main and old propaganda tool of regime change in Iran. Deus ex Machina, the quisling segments of the Albanian Police at the service of the Rajavi Cult, infringing Albanian Law locked in the Karreci facility (a closed camp for illegal migrants) six members of ASILA , namely:
Hassan Heyrani, engaged to an Albanian lady; Ali Hajari (father of an Albanian-Iranian daughter); Mehdi Suleimani, engaged to an Albanian lady; Gholamreza Shekari married (religious marriage) to an Albanian lady; Hassan Shahbaz; and Ehsan Bidi. None of them are illegal migrants in Albanian. They came to my country, says the Albanian journalist, as a result of a signed agreement between UNHCR and the Albanian government. All of them enjoy the status of “protected person” according to Annex IV of the Geneva Convention. After a series of written complaints, protests and appeals by ASILA, by their Albanian loved ones and by a lawyer hired by ASILA, a high-ranking Albanian police officer answered in written form that these ASILA members were locked in the Karreci facility due to national security concerns. Such an answer reminded me of the dark days of communism when Albanians were locked in prison for up to 8 years on charges of Agitation and propaganda against the people-s power!!!! A combination of ASILA action, a media campaign and hunger strikes by the inmates forced Albanian police in spite of the Rajavi Cult’s insistence to release Heyrani, the deputy head of ASILA. Yet he was issued with deportation order!
Today
The Albanian government and Premier Rama, behaving like a tin pot dictator at the service of a bloodstained ex-terrorist called The “Hydra” of Manez aka Miriam Rajavi, have scored a lot of “victories” against ASILA .
Namely:
Hassan Heyrani, the deputy head of ASILA, after being deported from Albania, lives in Greece equipped with regular residence papers.
Hassan Heyrani, the deputy head of ASILA
Ehsan Bidi was forcefully sent from the Karreci facility to Tehran Airport through Sabiha Gogcem Airport of Istanbul.
Gholamreza Shekari was released from Karreci facility but was issued with a deportation order. The Rajavi Cult informed Greek police of Mr. Shekari crossing illegally to Greece. He was detained by Greek police. They ruffed him up and kept him in a barbed wire camp for “special” illegal migrants near Gumenica town. Then they expelled him back to Albania. Police locked him up in the Karreci facility and issued a deportation order (30 days limit; point of exit from Albanian territory: Rinas International Airport).
Ali Hajari is still locked in the detention facility. His Albanian lady gave birth to Ali’s daughter while Ali was still locked in the Karreci facility. This act of cruelty was a courtesy of the Rajavi Cult in collusion with quisling segments of Albanian police and politics.
Mehdi Suleimani is still locked in the Karreci facility.
Edona Hunda, an ASILA member and the fiancé of Mr. Suleimani, was targeted by quisling segments of the Albanian police allegedly of being suspected of drug trafficking. Thanks to their shoddy work and extremely unprofessional behavior they left digital footprints of their active collusion with the Rajavi Cult. Proactive questioning methods applied by some policemen failed with the strong-willed lady. She was released in less than 12 hours and the trumped-up charges of drug trafficking went down the drain.
Hassan Shabaz is still locked in the Karreci facility
Moussa Jaberifar was locked in jail in Durres on trumped-up charges of drug trafficking. The judge ordered his release after a couple of months in prison as the “narcotics” trafficked by him resulted to be normal medical drugs bought at a normal chemist’s shop in the outskirts of Tirana. There are still persistent efforts of the Rajavi Cult in collusion with Albanian citizens to return Mr. Jaberifar to prison as he is still technically a defendant in such a “drug case”.
Mahmoud G. Deghan and Malek Bitmashal became victims of well-hatched ingenious plot. An ex-MEK member declared allegedly several ASILA members were in contact with Iranian secret service and even pretended to receive money from such services. The two above mentioned gentlemen though completely innocent got scared because of such baseless allegations and decided to leave Albanian illegally to save themselves of false charges leveled by quisling segments of the Albanian police.
Each of them bought a forged Italian passport and tried to leave Albania for Brindisi in Italy via the Albanian Port of Vlore. Strange enough they bought these passports from an old contact of the Rajavi Cult, the same person who equipped with a forged EU country passport another defector of the Rajavi Cult a couple of years ago. The police in Vlora detained both of them and now the poor fellows are indicted under “possession of forged identification documents” charges, Article 166 of Albanian Criminal Code. If found guilty by a court of law they face 6 months to 3 years jail sentence!
Mohammad Reza, who seems to be the ASILA member, is next target of the Rajavi Cult. Albanian matchmakers are trying hard to engage him to an Albanian woman who was the lover and who also pressed trumped-up charges and sued Bijan Pooladrag, an Iranian defector of the Rajavi Cult. Unfortunately, Mr. Pooladrag received a ten-year sentence on false charges of terrorism by a court in Tirana. It is highly possible and probable that such a woman of liberal behavior will set a similar trap (trumped-up charges and a long stint in prison) for Mohammad Reza, too.
In conclusion, there are 11 members of ASILA association in forced exile, in prison, in the Karreci facility, under court investigation pending a possible prison sentence. All of them without charge or on trumped-up charges! ASILA only has a modest 33 members, so 11 members in trouble means that the Rajavi Cult has managed to neutralize or semi-neutralize one third of the members. Yet ASILA is not dead or moribund.
ASILA is fighting hard and resisting!
By Mohammad Pouladvand