Iran’s Albanian network receives disinformation training to demonize MEK
Facilitate Iran regime state terrorism in Albania against MEK
Gjergji Thanasi, an Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) station mercenary and asset in Albania, travelled to Iran under the guise of a reporter in February 2020 training, as reported by Security and Counterterrorism Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (SNCRI) in its February 15, 2020 statement. Thanasi posted his photo while at the Evin Hotel purporting to be a journalist to boost him image among the MOIS network of agents in Albania. On the same Facebook page, the photo of another infamous MOIS agent, Massoud Khodabandeh, is also visible.
The 17 February 2021 SNCRI statement also disclosed details of how the MOIS and Iran regime’s embassy in Albania conducted a demonization campaign, as well as espionage and terrorist conspiracies against the MEK in the Balkan country. The statement quoted a former MOIS agent in Albania, who defected and exposed, “The amount of money paid to agents and payment methods used by the MOIS, and how they are used on Internet TV channels such as Mardom TV. It also detailed the use of reporters against the MEK (including a Der Spiegel reporter in 2018) and outlined the mission of local mercenaries such as Olsi Jazexhi (educated in Malaysia and operating under the cover of a journalist) and Gjergji Thanasi (who travels regularly to Iran)”.
In another statement on January 15, 2022, the SNCRI also stated the monthly payment of one thousand Euros by the MOIS to its agents, Gjergji Thanasi and Olsi Jazexhi, whose jobs included escorting agents going to Iran.
The travel of MOIS local agents from Albania to Iran, under the cover of reporters, to receive intelligence training for demonizing and paving the way for terrorism against the MEK is so obscene that posting photos with other MOIS agents in Iran, pretending to be reporters will not help reduce the weight of such criminal actions. The following photos, taken in the first week of June 2022 in Iran, are self-explanatory.
Photo 1 – Gjergji Thanasi with MOIS agent Ebrahim Khodabandeh at the Shah Abbas Hotel in Isfahan
Photo 2 – Gjergji Thanasi in Isfahan Steel Company
Photo 3 – From left to right, Gjergji Thanasi and Dashmir Mersoli in Shiraz
National Council of Resistance (NCRI)
Security and Counterterrorism Committee
June 14, 2022
