The latest suspected Iranian state official to be found in Canada is seeking his identity
The suspected Iranian official who was caught living in Canada appeared at his deportation hearing on Thursday as the regime he is accused of carrying out is accused of killing protesters.
Before coming to Canada, the Iranian citizen was a senior member of his government, according to the Canada Border Services Agency, which asked the Immigration and Refugee Board to order his deportation.
But with the deportation hearing about to begin, the alleged Iranian official asked the Refugee Board to bar journalists from his hearing and instead hold the hearing behind closed doors.
Global News was not allowed to hear his lawyer object to the secret hearing. The news source was brought into court long enough to argue that the case should remain a public record.
The IRB later banned journalists from publishing his name. No explanation was given for the decision. All “posts, documents, and any other records in this process” were also part of the ban.
The outspoken Iranian is the latest suspected senior member to face deportation under the 2022 federal policy that bans Tehran officials from the country.
Canadian officials say they have found more than two dozen others.
Iranian-Canadian activist Azam Jangravi said those who hold “high” positions in the Islamic Republic’s government “should be deported” and the cases should be open to the public.
The case is the first against a so-called senior Iranian official to appear before the IRB since Iranians took to the streets in December in the country’s biggest uprising since the 1979 revolution.
Soldiers loyal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei are reported to have killed thousands of protesters in an attempt to suppress protests that sought to overthrow the Islamic government.
On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Anita Anand said Iran’s violence against its citizens “must stop,” and that Ottawa is working on new sanctions. “Canada stands with the brave people of Iran, as long as it takes.”
Those forced to flee Iran have long complained that senior officials who helped maintain Khamenei’s repressive government keep coming from Canada and treating it as a “safe haven.”
Videos that have emerged from Iran show crowds chanting that members of the regime have sent their families to live here safely. “Their child is in Canada, our child is in prison,” they shouted at another protest.
Canada banned “senior members” of the regime from the country more than three years ago, after a young woman, Mahsa Amini, was killed in religious police custody in Iran for showing her hair in public.
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Since then, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has canceled 236 visas for Iranian officials, and the CBSA has received 26 Canadian residents who are facing deportation proceedings.
Just one deportation in more than three years of trying
But immigration officials have struggled to deport them, with only one Iranian official being repatriated so far. In five cases, the IRB chose to allow them to stay in Canada.
Most of the proceedings are kept secret.
Only four officials have been publicly identified so far, including Seyed Salman Samani and Majid Iranmanesh, who have been ordered out of Canada.
Elham Zandi left the country voluntarily, while Afshin Pirnoon, the former director general of Iran’s traffic ministry, was allowed to stay in Canada.
Global News has applied to open the remaining cases for public review, but the IRB has granted them confidentiality.
‘Tough talking and doing nothing’
Liberal MP Ali Ehsassi, who represents the large Iranian riding of Toronto, said the government’s “draconian” measures are preventing members of the regime from coming to Canada.
Regarding the government’s history of expelling one member of the government in more than three years of trying, he said the officials are doing everything they can.
“These cases are difficult to prosecute, as you can imagine. We live in a country with laws,” he said in an interview.
“There are different processes in place. So it’s important that this is done responsibly.”
Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman said the government must do more.
“The Liberals talk tough, but their inaction has turned Canada into a safe haven for senior Iranian officials with only one deportation over the years,” he said.
“It’s very simple: fire the agents so that the communities here in Canada are safe.”
As the Iranian regime faces its biggest challenge since coming to power, Global News asked the CBSA if it is taking additional security measures to prevent members of the regime from fleeing to Canada.
“Our strong response to suspected senior officials in the Iranian regime remains active, and the CBSA continues to take action to prevent them from seeking or obtaining safe haven in Canada,” the spokesperson said.
Iran’s fear-mongering method scares critics
A key source of instability in the Middle East, Iran trains, arms and finances Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraqi Shiite militias and Yemen’s Houthis, and sells drones to Russia for the war in Ukraine.
In Canada, Iran is accused of money-laundering and sanctions evasion, and a foreign interference investigation revealed how the democracy targeted the diaspora in an attempt to suppress critics.
Activists and journalists in Canada have been targeted, prompting the RCMP to warn former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler, a critic of Tehran, that he was the target of an assassination plot.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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