Albanian authorities on Tuesday raided a camp for members of the exiled Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq to seize 150 computer devices allegedly linked to prohibited political activities, and several people were injured.
Albanian Interior Minister Bledi Cuci and the head of the national police, Muhamet Rrumbullaku, said both police officers and Iranian dissidents were injured during the raid at the Ashraf-3 camp near Manze, a small hill town about 20 miles west of Albania’s capital. Representatives of the Mujahedeen group said one person was killed; Albanian authorities disputed that the raid caused the man’s death.
The Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime’s office has opened investigations into suspected political activities by Mujahedeen members. Cuci and Rrumbullaku referred questions about the nature of the alleged violations to prosecutors, saying police were only carrying out a court order to seize evidence.
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Cuci, the interior minister, said he was “indignant and offended” by the reception police received.
Iranian dissidents pepper sprayed in Albanian raid in the Ashraf-3 and Ashraf-4 camps on June 20, 2023 in pursuit of suspects tied to cyberattack. (Photo provided by National Council of Resistance of Iran )
In an email message to The Associated Press, Shahin Gobadi, the MEK’s spokesperson in Paris, said an Iranian man was killed and more than 100 camp residents injured “due to police firing pepper spray.” He identified the man who died as Ali Mostashari.
The statement from the Iranian opposition headquarters compared the Albanian police raid with those they saw in Iraq before coming to the Western Balkan country.
MEK members later fled into Iraq and backed dictator Saddam Hussein during his eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s, leading many people in Iran to oppose the group. Although now largely based in Albania, the group claims to operate a network inside Iran.
MEK members in Albania have proudly told local journalists how they have hacked or penetrated communication systems of the Tehran government and Iranian institutions.
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The United States, NATO and the European Union supported NATO member Albania in the dispute, with Washington vowing unspecified retaliation against Iran for what it called “a troubling precedent for cyberspace.”