{"id":18953,"date":"2020-03-14T07:18:16","date_gmt":"2020-03-14T12:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/?p=18953"},"modified":"2020-03-14T07:18:16","modified_gmt":"2020-03-14T12:18:16","slug":"afp-report-on-mek-in-albania-a-gleaming-compound-built-from-scratch-on-an-albanian-hillside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/18953\/","title":{"rendered":"AFP Report on MEK in Albania: \u201ca Gleaming Compound Built From Scratch on an Albanian Hillside\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by\u00a0Mansoureh Galestan<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a013 March 2020.<\/p>\n

In a report published on Thursday, the\u00a0<\/span>Agence<\/span>\u00a0France Press\u00a0<\/span>(AFP)<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>reflected the struggle for freedom\u00a0<\/span>by the<\/span>\u00a0members of the\u00a0People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, Mujahedin-e Khalq<\/a><\/span>)<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

This report is about the\u00a0<\/span>daily struggle of\u00a0MEK\u00a0<\/a><\/span>members for freedom in Iran,\u00a0<\/span>at\u00a0<\/span>Ashraf 3.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The\u00a0full report<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>is below:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a gleaming compound built from scratch on an Albanian hillside, thousands of Iranians dedicate their waking hours to toppling the regime in Tehran 3,000\u00a0<\/span>kilometers<\/span>\u00a0away.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They believe the end of their exile is near.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“I think this year will be very decisive,” says\u00a0<\/span>Zohreh<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Akhiani<\/span>, the 56-year-old mayor of “Ashraf 3”, a mini-city of some 2,800 exiled Iranians from the opposition movement the\u00a0People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI)<\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The dissidents hope an onslaught of crises in their homeland will aid their cause, from increasingly harsh US sanctions to recent anti-government protests and the new coronavirus, which has infected top officials.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if toppling Tehran is an uphill battle, unrelenting optimism fuels work in the central Albanian compound, the entrance of which is marked by a triumphal arch and metal gates.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Victory is ours! The future is ours,” is inscribed on the arch’s pillars.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0PMOI\u00a0<\/a>settled in their unlikely home in Albania, a poor Balkan state in southeast Europe, under a UN and US-backed deal in 2013 after their camp in Iraq was bombed.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On farmland outside the capital Tirana, the group has built a sprawling complex with remarkable speed. The undisclosed cost of construction was funded by the diaspora and members themselves, the group says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ashraf 3 is a world unto itself, with residential homes, a sports hall, health clinics, shops, and a large museum\u00a0<\/span>focussed<\/span>\u00a0on scenes of alleged Iranian torture tactics.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some hallmarks of normal life are missing, however.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Children are barred because “resistance fighters” must devote their energy to the struggle, a rule that has fed PMOI’s reputation as cultish.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Men and women mingle in work and daily activities but sleep in separate quarters.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“For the freedom of our people, for the difficult struggle we had all these years, naturally we have to suspend our personal lives,” explained\u00a0<\/span>Akhiani<\/span>, who has a daughter in Sweden.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The only reminder that the compound is on Albanian soil meanwhile, is a handful of local gardeners who keep the grounds tidy.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

– Circumventing censors\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Daily work is focused on supporting “internal resistance” led by dissidents in Iran, residents say.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a press room, around 20 people scour the web and contact sources on the ground who provide information about alleged regime abuses.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They say this is vital because Iranian media censorship is extreme and the internet was cut during violent protests against the government in November.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“All the crimes of the regime, we denounce them. For every crime it commits, we try to expose it,” said\u00a0<\/span>Damona<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Taavoni<\/span>, 39, who gave up a “good life” in Sweden to work in the compound.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She cited a voice message from an Iranian prisoner who said the coronavirus has been spreading inside the jail.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“We broadcast his voice, we turned it into a video,”\u00a0<\/span>Taavoni<\/span>\u00a0explained.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Morale is also kept up by poets, artists, and musicians who produce anti-regime anthems.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s the art of resistance,” says\u00a0<\/span>Rouzbeh<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Emadzadeh<\/span>, a musician working in a professional studio on the compound. “We’re not bombers like the Tehran regime accuses us of being.”<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Founded in 1965 to overthrow the Shah’s government and then the Islamic Republic, the PMOI are considered “terrorists” by Tehran.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The group was outlawed in 1981 after authorities accused it of a bomb attack that killed 74 people including Ayatollah Beheshti, the regime’s number two at the time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The PMOI never claimed responsibility for the attack, though it has claimed others.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And the group flatly rejects the “terrorist” label, which the EU and US have dropped in recent years.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

– ‘Truly evil’ –<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tirana’s decision to\u00a0<\/span>harbor<\/span>\u00a0the dissidents, which it says is a humanitarian mission in line with the Albanian tradition of hospitality, has led to fears of possible revenge attacks from Iran.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Albania recently expelled several Iranian diplomats and last year it claimed to have thwarted a Tehran-backed plot to attack the PMOI.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In January, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei lambasted Albania as a “truly evil and vicious European country” for hosting “traitors”.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But the dissidents don’t plan to stay long anyway.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“We have established friendly relations with Albania and its people,” said\u00a0Mohammad\u00a0<\/a><\/span>Mohadessin<\/span><\/a>, an official in\u00a0the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)<\/a>, an umbrella opposition group that includes the\u00a0PMOI<\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“But our wish, and also our assessment, is that we will soon return.”<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by\u00a0Mansoureh Galestan\u00a0on\u00a013 March 2020. In a report published on Thursday, the\u00a0Agence\u00a0France Press\u00a0(AFP),\u00a0reflected the struggle for freedom\u00a0by the\u00a0members of the\u00a0People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":18954,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iranresistance","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18955,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18953\/revisions\/18955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}