Mek

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.

Albania Special Prosecutors Office in Tirana

If found guilty, Pooladrag faces up to 10 years for the first charge and up to 15 for the second. He is suspected of working for the Iranian secret services and of eavesdropping on The People's Mujahedin of Iran, MEK, an exiled Iranian opposition group many of whose members moved to Albania in 2013 on the advice of the US.

Facebook removed more than 300 Facebook and Instagram accounts belonging to members of an Iranian dissident group based in Albania that had been targeting Iran and content related to Iran.

Albania became the target of Iranian ire when it started hosting the MEK, a cult-like organisation and one of the bitterest adversaries of the Iranian regime. In 2013,

Acting Foreign Minister of Albania Gent Cakaj, December 13, 2019. Photo: LSA

Cakaj said both has been declared "persona non grata for conducting activities not related to their status and to the principles of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations". They had been requested to leave Albania immediately, Cakaj added.

Ardi Veliu, Albanian Police General Director, speaking during a ceremony in Tirana on 21 October 2019. Photo: LSA

Police General Director Ardi Veliu told journalists that they had identified the alleged terrorists from "sources inside the cell".

Albania on Wednesday expelled the Iranian ambassador and another diplomat over an alleged terrorist plot, whose exact nature has not been made public.