Request by Eight American Senators for Protection of 'Ashraf-3 Residents' in Albania

Several Republican and Democratic senators in the U.S. have proposed a resolution calling for the 'protection of Iranian political refugees, including former female political prisoners at Ashraf-3' (the current headquarters of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran) in Tirana, Albania. In this resolution, which has been referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Tom Tillis, a Republican senator, along with three other Republican senators and four Democratic senators, described the Islamic Republic of Iran as the 'hub of terrorism in the region' in light of attacks by Iranian government proxy forces on commercial ships in the Red Sea and assaults on U.S. forces and interests. The resolution highlights the murder, massacre, torture, sexual violence, and imprisonment of protesters, especially following the protests in December 2017, stating that the Iranian regime 'intends to eliminate Iranian political refugees' who have escaped the Islamic Republic's 'repression' and were initially based in Camp Ashraf in Iraq in the mid-1980s. The authors of this resolution emphasized that since more than 900 men and women residing in Ashraf-3 have been imprisoned in the past, they must be protected 'for potential testimonies in international courts regarding the 1988 massacre and other severe human rights violations in Iran.' Among the requests made in this resolution are ensuring that Ashraf-3 residents enjoy 'their fundamental rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and lawful political activities in Albania,' condemning threats and sinister actions by the Iranian regime against the Albanian government, including cyberattacks and threats against Iranian dissidents in that country, 'swift and appropriate actions by the U.S. government in accordance with international law, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the 1951 Refugee Convention,' and preventing the Iranian government from abusing Interpol to pressure and return dissidents to the country. The United States and the United Kingdom jointly sanctioned 11 individuals last February for 'connections to a criminal network that, at the behest of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security, planned to assassinate regime opponents abroad.' Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, stated, 'We believe that individuals who were placed on the sanctions list today were part of a network that carried out actions aimed at transnational repression, including multiple assassinations and kidnappings, and also planned operations in the United States.'