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04-07-2023
TEHRAN: Iran has lashed out against France for allowing a meeting and rally by the blacklisted Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), or People’s Mujahidin Organization, which Tehran says amounts to support for “terrorism”.
French officials need to “make up for their past mistakes” in backing the “murderers of Iranian people” and focus on the country’s “deep internal crisis” and discriminatory behavior against its own citizens, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement late on Sunday.
Kanani was referring to nearly a week of violence and unrest in the European nation since the killing of a teenager by a French police officer.
“Instead, they create the grounds for a rally of terrorists whose drumbeat of ignominy in Albania was recently heard by the whole world,” he said, warning Paris of “political and legal” ramifications if it continues to accommodate the dissident group.
The MEK’s main camp in Albania, which is home to several thousand members, was raided by security police last month after a court order was issued to investigate unsanctioned political activities that went against a 2014 United States-brokered agreement that allowed its members to reside in the West Balkans nation.
The group said one of its members died, which Albanian police denied was a result of the raid, and electronics were confiscated. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said the group cannot use the country to fight the establishment in Iran, which the MEK has said it aims to overthrow.
The organization, based on Islamic and socialist ideology, used to be on the US and European Union “terrorist” list before being delisted more than a decade ago. Experts have said it operates like a “cult”.
At the weekend, it held a meeting on the outskirts of Paris as a group of its supporters rallied inside the city.
Former US Vice President Mike Pence, who is running in the 2024 presidential election, and short-time former United Kingdom Prime Minister Liz Truss addressed the MEK gathering outside Paris. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
