The honeymoon between the terrorist group MKO and Albania has reached its final days, and Tirana is advancing its criminal investigation into the group’s actions amid the illegal and hostile escalation of the MKO.
Based on Mizan News Agency, The Albanian media outlet Gazeta Impact wrote in a report titled “Pandora’s Box: The Hateful Transformation of the MKO Against Albania” that Albania’s hosting of the MKO has now become a full-blown nightmare for Tirana; the report states:
The terrorist group of the MKO has become so aggressive and hostile that it has practically gotten out of control even in Tirana; Albanian authorities have asked their Western allies for help to counter this trend and are simultaneously investigating the crimes of this group.
At the same time, there is speculation that even senior leaders of the MKO, including Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the group, could face criminal charges and long prison sentences due to the disclosure of evidence of cyberattacks originating from Camp Ashraf 3.
Ashraf-3, now a ticking time bomb on Albanian soil, writes that Western and Albanian analysts are now frankly saying: The MEK has slipped out of Albania’s control and has become an autonomous terrorist zone that threatens regional security; one analyst points out that Albania has reached a strategic impasse in dealing with the MEK, and while the complete collapse of the MEK is impossible, Tirana is still trying hard to minimize its consequences.
the double standards of the MKO revealed the strange hypocrisy of the MKO; Ashraf 3 may look like a refugee camp from the outside, but it is actually a small town separated from Albanian society; in other words, the MKO has built an Orwellian fortress in Albania whose main purpose is to foster anti-Iranian propaganda and cyber warfare operations.
The turning point in Albanian-MKO relations came two years ago, when Albanian police raided the group’s camp in 2023; Albanian police have since quietly launched an investigation into the MKO; state prosecutors have accused some MKO members of secretly carrying out cyberattacks and political activities in clear violation of the initial agreement with the Albanian government.
The MKO terrorist group was legally obliged to refrain from any overt political or military action after its relocation (2013-2016); suspicions grew that it had broken this promise; after months of online surveillance, particularly of Telegram channels, Albania came to believe that a “troll farm” existed in Manza, the site of Camp Ashraf 3.
Albania, which had blocked hundreds of Facebook accounts linked to MKO elements by April 2021, decided to take stricter measures in June 2023 and dispatched a special police unit to search the Manza camp, under the orders of the special court.
Albanian prosecutors said that an inventory operation had been carried out of hundreds of items of seized equipment; the Special Prosecutor’s Office (SPAK) officially announced investigations into members of the MKO for incitement to war, illegal interception of computer data, interference with computer systems and related crimes; in short, a criminal case of unprecedented importance is underway, built on evidence discovered at Ashraf-3 itself.
Behind closed doors of the prosecutor’s office, some Albanian officials are saying bluntly: The protection of the MEK in Albania has been a sham; although international partners protect them from deportation, the MEK’s continued operation as a rogue militia group could face punishment.
Tirana has openly hinted at next steps; Interior Ministry officials told reporters they are reviewing each residence permit on a case-by-case basis, indicating that visas or humanitarian statuses could be revoked; behind closed doors, SPAK investigators and foreign cybercrime teams are systematically reviewing camp data.
“We are in an advanced stage of in-depth investigations, especially expert analysis of hundreds of seized devices; international partners are also participating in this investigation,” an Albanian prosecutor told Balkan Insight.
In other words, Albania has officially asked its NATO and EU allies to help; critics point to the contrast between this and Albania’s passive approach to the camp’s past; in the years since their arrival, the MKO has generally lived with minimal Albanian interference, even holding international conferences and inviting Western officials, but now, with evidence of illegal activity emerging, Tirana is on high alert, with roads leading to the camp blocked by checkpoints, and technology agencies and police regularly scanning the network environment.
All this turmoil has revealed a bitter truth: Albania has miscalculated; experts say the government was always aware of the political risk of harboring the Rajavis, but lacked the capacity to deal with it; as international affairs analyst Andriy Teffani has specifically pointed out, Albania has essentially lost control of this community, and the area under the siege of the MKO in Manza is effectively outside Albanian sovereignty.
Another analyst concluded that this is a strategic impasse; Albania has realized that it has lost control of the MKO, but if it were to expel or disband the MKO, the entire group would collapse, a prospect the West says it cannot tolerate; Albania finds itself trapped: unable to expel a militant group, but lacking the equipment to effectively control it.
In every way, Albania has become an accomplice of the MKO; diplomats state that Western attention to Ashraf 3 increased sharply after the Albanian police action in 2023; Brussels and Washington are now raising serious questions about what is happening at Ashraf 3.
If Albanian prosecutors find solid evidence of MKO crimes, they appear prepared to indict whoever is responsible.
The Albanian dilemma is more than a local scandal: it reflects a dangerous double standard in Western politics; the European Union has repeatedly praised Tirana for harboring the MKO and even removed the group from its terrorist list; Western politicians have even taken photos with MKO leaders and attended their rallies from NATO member states; financial regulators have turned a blind eye to the MKO’s dubious fundraising; it has now become clear that these actions were serious efforts to support a dangerous terrorist group.
In fact, the presence of the MKO on European soil has caused more problems than anticipated; one fact is clear: no other country than Albania, which dreams of joining the European Union, would tolerate such a terrorist group propagating war from within its borders.
Now, after years of Western appeasement, Prague and Washington are reminding Tirana: this alliance comes at a cost; NATO cyber experts recently arrived in Tirana, promising technical assistance to resist cyberattacks and bolster Albania’s defenses; the US and the EU have provided forensic support in the Ashraf 3 case; even the UN has quietly stated that no signatory to the refugee conventions can allow Ashraf-3 to become a terrorist base.
The best Albania can do is process the evidence; legally, the case is solid, and charges of incitement to war and cyberterrorism carry heavy penalties under Albanian law.
The MKO remains on Albanian soil for now, and Albania finds itself sinking deeper into the Ashraf-3 swamp.
