{"id":262233,"date":"2022-08-11T17:34:19","date_gmt":"2022-08-11T15:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=262233"},"modified":"2023-02-02T16:22:52","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T15:22:52","slug":"irans-regime-global-campaign-against-the-mek-more-visible-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/irans-regime-global-campaign-against-the-mek-more-visible-than-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s Regime Global Campaign Against the MEK More Visible Than Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ashraf-3\"<\/p>\n

On July 12, an Albanian law enforcement body known as the Special Structure for Combatting Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) issued warrants<\/a> leading to raids on several properties associated with Iranian regime agents living in the Balkan nation. The warrants were reportedly implemented with the aim of preventing \u201cany possible terrorist attack\u201d against Ashraf 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ashraf 3, an Iranian expatriate community has been the residence in exile of the leading opposition group, the People\u2019s Mojhaedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK<\/a>), since they were transferred from their prior residences in Iraq in 2016. Since then, it has come under threat from Iranian spies and terrorist operatives on multiple occasions, as Tehran continued to pursue the goal of stamping out the leading voice for a democratic alternative to the clerical dictatorship.<\/p>\n

The existence of that raid was only revealed by Albanian media as part of reporting on the July 12 warrants, which in turn revealed that SPAK had been engaged in an investigation of spy networks linked to the Iranian regime for at least four years. The latest enforcement action involved the interrogation of at least 20 alleged members of those networks, as well as the confiscation of various devices and documents which may reveal crucial details about regime\u2019s infiltration strategies for Albania and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Tehran\u2019s disinformation campaign against the MEK has arguably been as powerful a tool as its direct threats of terrorism, even though the latter should have stripped Iranian propaganda sources of all credibility in their dealings with Western policymakers and media commentators. The trouble is that those sources have very rarely been transparent, with Tehran\u2019s propaganda frequently being filtered through pre-established media contacts by persons posing as former members of the MEK<\/a> themselves.<\/p>\n

This strategy has been so successful in creating a veneer of credibility that in the four years Albanian authorities have been investigating Tehran\u2019s local espionage activities, articles disparaging the MEK have appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, The Independent, and on BBC 4. In at least two cases, reporters and editors have been made subject to court orders<\/a> for restitution and retraction of published content, after it became clear that their sources had not been properly vetted and were traceable to Iran\u2019s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, or related institutions.<\/p>\n

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Iran's disinformation campaign against the MEK via 'friendly journalists'<\/div><\/div>
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