A former high-ranking Iranian regime official caught living in Canada has asked a federal judge to halt his deportation, documents obtained by Global News show.
Seyed Salman Samani, who was until recently Iran’s deputy interior minister, claimed in an appeal to the Federal Court that expelling him would violate his rights.
In a court application filed in Toronto, Samani said that on June 19 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada had denied his request to defer his removal back to Iran.
Calling the decision “unlawfully made” and “patently unreasonable,” the 45-year-old former Iranian government spokesperson asked the court to overturn the ruling.
At the same time, he filed an “anonymity order notice” in which he urged the court to scrub his name from all documents related to his appeal.
Due to the “high-profile nature” of his case, Samani said he wanted to be identified only by “randomized and arbitrary initials” such as A.B. or X.Y.
The court has not yet ruled on the matter.
Samani is one of almost three dozen alleged senior members of Iran’s repressive regime who have been found in Canada, according to figures released by federal immigration officials.
The Immigration and Refugee Board ordered his deportation more than two years ago but his court appeal, filed on Canada Day, shows he has still not been sent home.
The CBSA declined to comment on the case.
Iranian-Canadians have long complained that the country risks becoming a safe haven for members of Iran’s regime, and have called for better screening to weed them out.
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The Canadian government banned all “senior” Iranian government officials from entering Canada in 2022, but immigration officials have struggled to deport them.
Of the 34 suspected regime members that the Canada Border Services Agency has identified for possible deportation, only one has been sent back to Iran to date.
Samani is a “career politician” who held a “plethora” of government positions in Iran between 2007 and 2021, according to the CBSA’s report on him.
“The subject demonstrated his commitment and loyalty to the regime throughout his career,” the CBSA wrote in its report, obtained by Global News.
After leaving the Iranian government in August 2021, Samani flew to Canada using a visitor visa issued in Ankara, Turkey.
In 2024, he became one of the first Iranian regime members brought before the Refugee Board for a deportation hearing under the ban on senior officials.
At his hearing, Samani downplayed his importance in the government and denied any involvement in human rights abuses.
But the CBSA said he held “significant influence on the exercise of government power” and was “only two positions removed from the President of Iran.”
As the Ministry of Interior’s official spokesperson, he “served as a conduit for state propaganda, responsible for disseminating information that aligned with the government narrative and suppressing any dissenting views.”
Samani’s department sent agents to attack political protests and was responsible for “frequent violations of speech and assembly rights in Iran,” the CBSA argued.
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In his recent court filings, Samani argued that Canadians should not be permitted to know about his case.
He wrote that he had a “considerable profile as a former member of the Iranian government, which has gathered substantial media attention.”
If his case were heard in public, he might face “possible retribution from Iranian authorities,” he claimed.
Although Canada’s courts are open to the public, the Federal Court allows applicants to ask to have their cases anonymized, meaning they are not identified by name, but that is done rarely.
Samani also tried to ban the press from his deportation hearing in 2024. Global News fought the move and the Refugee Board ruled it would be held in public.
Another alleged regime member, Abbas Omidi, tried to ban news reporters from his deportation hearing as well, but the IRB ruled in March that such cases were in the public interest.
“For all Canadians, I find that transparency regarding the type of allegation Mr. Omidi is facing is an important safeguard that enables accountability, deters impunity, and reinforces public confidence in Canadian legal processes and institutions,” the Board wrote.
“In this context, hiding Mr. Omidi’s identity would have a strong deleterious/negative effect on the public’s interest in the open court process.”
Canada has had tense relations with Iran since the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution. Ottawa severed diplomatic ties with Tehran in 2012, citing the regime’s nuclear program and support for terrorist groups.
More recently, the government’s threat assessment agency said in a declassified report that the regime’s intelligence service may be linked to attacks in Canada since the start of the Iran war.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
Look at me, ima friggin monkey!
Hey Liberal voters.
Remind me again why us Conservative voters are KNUCKLE DRAGGING MORONS because we don’t support the Criminal loving, foreign terrorist loving Liberals.
Instant refugee status, multiple releases on bail.
Please kick those guys out of canada.why it takes years for judges to decide? The iranians say these guys steal millions of US Dollars when they work in iran so they can affored hiearing the most famous, clever and tricky lawyers who know the tricks to extend their living time in Canada very well.
That’s the problem with this country; it gives so many rights to it’s citizens, but then gives anyone and their brother a citizenship willy nilly and now you’ve got all these foreigners with more rights than we have. You commit a crime in Canada? Just get on a plane. But if you’re from Canada we’ll you’re sinking with the ship.
Get on with the deportation.
Came here under false pretences, spent year helping to facilitate war and violence across the Middle East.
Let me ask you this?
What contributions is he going to make to Canada?
Can he plumb or nurse?
” expelling him would violate his rights.”
He’s not here legally so he has no rights to citizenship. Send him back!
Illegally smuggled guns and Mexican cartels as well as Indian gangs in BC extorting people, smuggling drugs and open gang warfare in Canada. Hmmmm, sounds more like a third world country every day. All the while the Carney Liberals are grabbing firearms from the least likely to commit crimes, lawful gun owners.
Canada has become a terrorist and criminal welcoming country since the Trudeau Liberals were elected in 2015 and that continues under Carney. The US just said that Canada is now harbouring the Mexican cartels and our border is so porous that the US border services have seized enough fentanyl from Canada to kill 17 million Americans. Maybe, just maybe, that explains why we are now having gang gunfights in our streets in Canada.
Canada is too lenient and that makes it CORRUPT. crime goes unpunished and the spaghetti code of laws means nothing gets done. a nation of lunatics, a great fit for allies like Iran and Russia since they’re just as crazy as Canada.
OMG get this terrorist out please stop letting them abuse our system to make canada a terrorist haven
Canada all terrorists, cartel gangsters, criminals welcomed with liberal open arms
When these guys get caught doing wrong they always claim diplomatic immunity so according to them they have no rights nor obligation in Canada. They can’t have it both ways. They are not Canadian citizens, immigrants or refugees, nor are they foreign workers in Canada so they have absolutely no rights in Canada so deporting them is our perogative.
I seriously loathe liberals for the state of Canada today. This is not the country I grew up in anymore, spineless self hating degenerates have ruined this one powerful country.
This man was part of a regime that oppresses people in Iran especially women and now he is calling for not to be deported because it violates his rights. Talk about a double standard Canada shouldn’t spend anymore taxpayers money on him or anyone else that is to be deported. The ruling was made for deportation so thats what should happen sooner than later.
Libturds have drove this country into the ground
Look at this guy, looks like a cross between a monkey and a dog
How convenient that you use the freedom rights in Canada when you can’t even give them to Iranian people
“@ Canada wants all Terrorists ”
You must be another one of these Elbows Up Liberals, absolutely blind to the reality of the current state of Canada. The perfect LPC voter,out of touch with reality and fully saturated in the Big Red Lie.
More of Trudeau’s Trash that he brought into the Country .The Liberal Party and it’s supporters already provide Canada with enough terrorists, do we really need to bring more in from outside our borders?
@Canada wants all Terrorists!
Grow up you pathetic little coward
He was suppose to go home 2 years ago and he’s still in Canada, Canada is so weak
Dave
July 16, 2026 at 7:43 am
I am .sure some activist judge will let them stay
Canada loves terrorists
Oh yes Dave we take em all. We are a terrorist enclave! Look out now we will send them for you!! Ho-hum another anti Canadian azzhole ‘murican.
Canada, land of suckers! Put a bullet in this guy and all terrorist we have allowed in
I am .sure some activist judge will let them stay
Canada loves terrorists