By Syed Zafar Mehdi
The clashes broke out after Albania’s anti-corruption task force, in line with a court order, searched the headquarters of the MKO terror cult over its illegal political activities, according to reports.
Members of the cult confirmed the killing of Abdulwahab Faraji-Nejad, known by his nom de guerre ‘Commander Afshin’ or ‘Ali Mostashari’, but Albanian authorities denied police hand in it.
According to informed sources, the notorious terror ringleader and a close confidante of MKO leader Maryam Rajavi was killed in an insider attack to deflect attention from the group’s criminal activities.
Faraji-Nejad was a seasoned military commander of the terror cult who rose through the ranks after the MKO launched a de-facto war against the Islamic Republic in the early 1980s, backed by Western powers. He was, according to MKO watchers, introduced by Rajavi for his impressive terror resume.
According to Dr. Mohammad Mahboubi, a prominent Iranian historian who has followed the MKO terror cult closely for years, the slain terrorist held many important military positions in the group, including as a senior commander of Operation Forough Javidan (Mersad) when MKO terrorists backed by the Iraqi Baathist regime in July 1988 attempted to capture Iran’s Kermanshah city.
In an interview with the Press TV website, Dr. Mahboubi said Faraji-Nejad was one of the senior-most MKO commanders since the group’s inception and when it launched the war against the Islamic Republic after the 1979 revolution.
The defectors who escaped the clutches of the terror cult say Faraji-Nejad was known in the organization as someone who had a prominent role in at least 60 assassinations of Iranian officials, Dr. Mahboubi said, adding that his military status in the group was so exalted that he conducted workshops on guerrilla warfare and assassination operations at MKO bases in Baghdad and Kirkuk.
The slain MKO terror kingpin, the historian noted, was one of the senior commanders of Operation Forough Javidan (Mersad) and also participated in Morvarid Operation against Iraqi Kurds in Kirkuk.
“MKO members who were present in these two operations narrate horrible and shocking memories of his war crimes,” Dr. Mahboubi said. “For example, it is said that when the MKO captured 35 Iranian soldiers in the Forough Javidan Operation, the prisoners were thirsty and asked for water, but Faraji-Nejad, who was the field commander, instead of giving them water shot and killed all of them.”
Faraji-Nejad was the deputy chief of an MKO brigade during the operation, whose responsibility was to capture the border city of Sarpol-e-Zahab up till Karand, Dr. Mahboubi said, adding that this incident related to the capture of Karand has been narrated many times by MKO defectors.
For example, Samad Nazari, a former member of the terror cult who died in 2014, in his memoirs titled ‘Footprint of the Devil’ has narrated this incident in meticulous detail.
Hadi Shabani, a driver of the head of the MKO Central Council at the time, also referred to it in an interview and said after two Iranian prisoners were martyred, MKO terrorists led by Faraji-Nejad piled their bodies on top of each other and took pictures of them.
Dr. Mahboubi further said the list of those assassinated by this dreaded MKO terrorist is not known publicly but those who defected, including a person named Majid Mohammadi, revealed that the criteria for assassinations were clear – those who sported beard and had shirt collar fully buttoned.
“Anyone with these two characteristics meant that he was either a soldier or a supporter of the Islamic Republic, that's why we assassinated/bombarded him,” Mohammadi was quoted as saying.
On what the latest incident in Albania means for the future of this terror cult, which has already been battling an existential crisis, Dr. Mahboubi said it has exposed the shaky nature of the group.
After the incident, Albania’s interior ministry said the search operation at the MKO camp was legal and based on a court order, while top Albanian police official Muhamet Rrumbullaku said he was feeling “indignant and offended” that the terror cult members tried to obstruct the police.
Blader Cuci, Albania’s interior minister, denied MKO claims that Faraji-Nejad died due to police action and said authorities were awaiting the results of an autopsy.
“I guarantee that death was not caused by any action of the police forces,” he said at a news conference on Tuesday. “We paid all the necessary care not to create any incident with the residents within the camp.”
Viral videos online showed MKO members angrily clashing with the Albanian police and blocking their way as they tried to enter the cult’s highly fortified premises to expose illegal activities.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani, reacting to the incident in Albania, said the “terrorist nature” of MKO will always make it a source of danger for any host country, which is why Iraq expelled it many years ago, hoping the Albanian government “will make up for its mistake”.
Interestingly, the US quickly distanced itself from the terror cult even though many top former and present American officials have been regularly hosted at the MKO headquarters in Albania.
The MKO terror cult was listed as a “terrorist” organization by both the United States and the European Union until a decade ago. Heightened tensions with Iran saw the terror group de-listed.
Meanwhile, French authorities have refused permission for this year’s MKO rally that was scheduled in Paris on July 1 following the clashes between MKO members and police in Albania.
Syed Zafar Mehdi is a Tehran-based journalist, editor and blogger. He has reported extensively from Kashmir, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran for leading publications worldwide.
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