One Dead as Albanian Police Raid Iranian Oppositionists’ Compound

One person died on Tuesday as police raided the compound of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (People's Mujahedin of Iran), MEK in Mezez near Durres in Albania and clashed with some of the Iranian oppositionist group's members.

Interior Minister Bledi Cuci told media that the police were "enforcing a court order" to seize devices and equipment inside the compound because the Special Prosecution had "reasonable doubts" that MEK members were involved in political activity, which is prohibited under the terms of the agreement allowing them to stay in Albania.

Cuci said that MEK members resisted the police operation but that officers were not responsible for the death of one of them.

"I guarantee you that the death of the person in the compound was not caused by the State Police," she said.

The head of of the State Police, Muhamet Rrumbullaku, denied allegations that officers had used violence against MEK members, saying that police had only used pepper spray against individuals who were not complying.

But the National Council of Resistance of Iran, of which MEK is a leading member, said in a statement that one man was killed in the raid and many people harmed by the police action.

"As a result of this criminal attack, a member of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (PMOI/MEK), Mr. Ali Mostashari, was killed and more than 100 people were injured due to police firing pepper spray. Many of them are in critical condition and some were transferred to Mother Teresa Hospital in Tirana," the secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran said.

MEK's compound after the police raid. Photo: LSA

Around 3,000 members of the MEK, a long-exiled group that opposes the Iranian Islamic regime, moved to Albania between 2013 and 2016.

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