Call to identify and expel Iranian regime intelligence agents from European countries
NCRI – An annual report recently published by the Swedish security service (Sapo) mentions the expulsion of a spy who had been working as an embassy advisor in Sweden, thus tacitly uncovering a part of the Iranian regime intelligence services plots against Iranian dissidents and refugees residing in Sweden. The report refers to gathering of information and identifying regime opponents, impeding opposition activities through threats and bribes, spreading misinformation, propaganda, and conducting a demonizing campaign against the opposition, working to diminish trust toward regime opponents, infiltrating their ranks, and coercing refugees into cooperation with the regime’s intelligence services by making threats about imprisoning and torturing their family members still living inside Iran.
Prior to this, the National Council of Resistance of Iran had held two press conferences in Stockholm on March 14, 2008, and January 19, 2009, exposing the Iranian regime’s spying activities and plots carried out by its terrorist agents disguising as diplomats in Sweden. At the same time, it called for the identification, trial and expulsion of all Iranian regime agents and spies, diplomats and non-diplomats alike, from various European countries.
Hassan Saleh Majd, a regime terrorist disguising as a diplomat, who in January 2008 was expelled from Sweden as a “persona non grata,” was an agent of the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). He was sent to Sweden in 2006 and started working there as the cultural liaison at the regime’s embassy in Stockholm. In February 2007, another regime diplomat identified as Mohammad Javad Monfared, was expelled from Sweden. He now works in Tehran at the Organization of Islamic Communications, which is considered one of the main centers of exporting terrorism and fundamentalism. At that capacity, he guides and commands activities linked to fundamentalism in Sweden.
Since Hassan Saleh Majd’s expulsion, the Iranian regime no longer has an official cultural envoy to Sweden. Instead, another agent identified as Mohammad Javad Mohammadi, the son-in-law of mullah Mohammadi Araqi, former head of the Islamic Development Organization and also the Organization of Islamic Culture and Communications, has unofficially been acting in that role.
One of the responsibilities of the MOIS and the named diplomats of the Iranian regime has been the gathering of information about opponents of the clerical regime. One of the regime’s well-known tactics is to use its official diplomats, MOIS operations teams, and local spies who usually work under cover as refugees, in order to implement its criminal terrorist acts. The assassination of Ms. Zahra Rajabi in February 1996 in Istanbul, Turkey, was carried out in such a manner.
In December 1993, four regime diplomats were expelled from Sweden, and two regime spies posing as refugees were sentenced to prison. They intended to assassinate a number of Iranian Resistance officials, but their plot was neutralized in its final stages.
In relation to a diplomat who was expelled from Sweden in January 2008, the Swedish security service report notes that in 2008, an intelligence officer was expelled from Sweden, he instead of performing diplomatic activities as an embassy advisor, systematically worked against people from his country who had taken refuge in Sweden. The report adds that his activities involved threats and violations of human rights which violated the civil rights and freedoms of the refugees.
The Sapo report further states, “The advisor was in fact an intelligence agent who was sent to Sweden by his country’s intelligence services. … He tried, and in some cases succeeded, to infiltrate opposition groups and recruit suitable individuals. … The recruited members were exiles who spent their days in hard and vulnerable conditions in Swedish society. … The intelligence officer had promised to help them obtain refugee status in exchange for information.”
The Sapo report goes on to say, “Intelligence agents operating in Sweden, either directly themselves or indirectly through other operatives, work to gather intelligence against opposition groups. They also make threats against or bribe people to end opposition activities. Intelligence agents also spread false information and propaganda against opponents in order to change the landscape. They also work on politicians and media personalities to demonize or diminish trust toward opposition groups.”
During the NCRI press conference in Stockholm, it was revealed that the clerical regime uses other venues in addition to its embassy to advance its spying and fundamentalist activities. These unofficial sites include the Imam Ali Mosque in Stockholm, the Balal Mosque in Gothenburg, Imam Sadegh Mosque in Malmo, the Theological Society in Gothenburg, Heydarieh Seminary, Najafiha Seminary, and the al-Zahra Center.
These centers operate under the supervision of mullah Vaezi, representative of the regime’s Supreme Leader in Sweden, and are funded by the mullahs’ Organization of Islamic Culture and Communications.
The Iranian Resistance once again warns against the escalating spying activities and terrorist preparations by the clerical regime abroad, especially in countries like Germany and France. The Iranian Resistance stresses that these governments are responsible for the protection and safety of Iranian refugees and dissidents, and calls on them to put the regime’s agents and spies on trial and expel them from European countries.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
May 4, 2009
