A group of Iranian dissidents is taking aim at what it calls “nonsense and lies” from the Iranian regime regarding its activities.
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK), an Iranian opposition group based in Albania, says Iran’s state media is trying to wedge the Canadian government to take a position on the MEK.
According to the MEK, media outlets affiliated with the Iranian regime have published stories suggesting there are efforts underway for the MEK to relocate its members from its Albanian headquarters to Canada.
“The leaders of the terrorist group of the Hypocrites (MEK) are making the preparations for the transfer of the members of this group from Albania to Canada,” said one article in Iran’s Tasnim News Agency. “This decision was made after the intense pressure of the Albanian government and their failed negotiations with France to transfer there.”
The article claims the MEK’s leaders are “making arrangements for the departure of the members” from Ashraf-3, the name of their headquarters outside Tirana, Albania.
Members of the Iranian opposition movement in Canada reached by True North had heard nothing of any such plans, outside of the reports in Iran’s state media.
The MEK says there is no truth to the reports.
“The nonsense and lies of the clerical regime (which were widely published today and yesterday in the state media in Iran) regarding the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran wants to come to Canada from Albania is solely for the objective of forcing the Canadian government to take a position, and in our opinion, is not worth responding,” said Shahin Gobadi, an MEK press spokesperson.
The Canadian government has issued no statement on the reports. The MEK was previously designated as a terror organization in Canada, but this designation was revoked in 2012 alongside a similar move by the United States. The Iranian regime still regards the MEK as a terrorist group and regularly prosecutes its members.
The MEK and its parent organization, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, are prominent advocates for regime change in Iran, attracting bipartisan support in Canada, the United States, and many European countries.
