Exclusive; National Council of Resistance Member: The US and Albania Should Clarify the Delivery of Computers to Iran

A member of the "National Council of Resistance of Iran" reacted to the claim by an official of the Islamic Republic regarding the beginning of "identifying contacts" of the People's Mojahedin Organization through "hard drives and computer cases seized" at Ashraf 3, stating to Voice of America: "The US and Albania must clarify whether the computers have been handed over to the Iranian government or not." The spokesperson for the People's Mojahedin Organization responded to the remarks of the head of the Islamic Republic's Information Council, saying that the US and Albania should clarify whether the Mojahedin's computers have been delivered to the Iranian regime. According to official news agencies in Iran on Monday, July 3, Sepehr Khalaji, the head of the Islamic Republic's Information Council, announced that the work of "recovering information" related to the People's Mojahedin Organization from the computers seized from the organization's base in Albania has begun. Khalaji stated that "part of the hard drives and cases have arrived," and tweeted that they are "busy recovering information" and "identifying contacts and destructive cells and blind spots," calling the results "promising so far." Ali Safavi, a member of the Foreign Commission of the "National Council of Resistance of Iran," reacted to the statements of this official of the Islamic Republic, stating to Voice of America, "We have said from the very beginning that the actions taken against Ashraf were at the request of the criminal regime of the mullahs." He referred to recent statements by Islamic Republic officials about having "cooperated with Albanian intelligence services," adding: "We ask the US and Albanian governments to take a stance and clarify whether there has been cooperation with the mullah regime regarding actions against the People's Mojahedin Organization and whether the laptops and computers taken from Ashraf 3 have been handed over directly or indirectly to the Iranian regime." Safavi also emphasized: "The responsibility for any repressive actions such as the arrest, torture, or execution of families and activists of the Mojahedin and political prisoners in Iran by the regime is entirely on the US and Albanian governments, which have been responsible for the transfer of the Mojahedin from Iraq to Albania." According to a statement from the Secretariat of the "National Council of Resistance of Iran" issued on Monday, July 3, during the police raid on Ashraf 3 in Tirana on June 20, "213 computers" were seized from the location of the members of the People's Mojahedin Organization, and on July 3, the spokesperson for the Islamic Republic's Information Council claimed that they are identifying individuals related to the People's Mojahedin Organization in Iran using them. The Islamic Republic has executed many individuals in connection with the activities of the People's Mojahedin Organization in Iran over the past decades, with the executions of the 1980s and especially the mass execution of political prisoners in the summer of 1988 being the most notable. The "National Council of Resistance" has stated that if the news is true, "intelligence cooperation" with the Islamic Republic against the People's Mojahedin and the "transfer of part of the 213 seized computers and hard drives at Ashraf 3" to Iran would be "shocking" and "a humanitarian disaster and a horrific violation of human rights in cooperation with the religious fascism ruling in Iran" and could lead to "the arrest, torture, and execution of families, political prisoners, and supporters of the Mojahedin" in Iran and "unchecked terrorism" abroad. On Sunday, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, in a statement praising the action of the Albanian police, claimed that the Iranian government has "security intelligence exchanges with European intelligence services" regarding the activities of the People's Mojahedin Organization and threatened that "Iran seriously has the pursuit of terrorists outside its borders on its agenda." Edi Rama, the Prime Minister of Albania, in an interview with Spiegel Germany, stated that he understands the anger of the People's Mojahedin against the Islamic Republic and that they have the right to fight for their freedom, but Albania does not want to become a front in this war and that if the People's Mojahedin wants to fight against the Iranian government, they must leave the country. According to Edi Rama, the People's Mojahedin have violated initial agreements and have conducted cyber attacks against the Iranian government from the territory of this country. A spokesperson for the US State Department on June 20, following the operation of the Albanian police, stated in a written response to the Persian section of Voice of America that it appears that the entry of the Albanian police into the Ashraf camp was to execute a court order, and the Albanian police assured the US that they acted according to the law.