The government of Canada is using a “powerful and sparingly” used provision to designate the entirety of the Iranian regime as an entity that is a “serial violator of human rights” and one that commits acts of terror, federal cabinet ministers announced Thursday.
“Over the last couple of weeks the world has witnessed the Iranian regime killing, injuring and attacking its own citizens for simply standing up for their own human rights,” said Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth Marci Ien, speaking from Berlin, Germany at the G7 gender equality ministers meeting.
“These brave women are not only fighting for their rights and freedoms but they are fighting for a better future for their daughters, their sisters, their aunts, their mothers.”
Ministers provided an update on Canada’s efforts to hold the Iranian regime accountable on Thursday amid unrest over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in mid-September and of numerous protesters since then.
Amini died while in the custody of Iran’s “morality police” on Sept. 16 while being held for “inappropriate attire.”
Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino said the Iranian regime must be held accountable, noting the Canadian government is ensuring that anyone responsible for “these egregious human rights violations” will never be allowed to come to Canada again.
A provision under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) used “only a handful of times” by the government will be put into place to designate the entirety of the Iranian regime as an entity that is a serial violator of human rights and one that commits acts of terror, according to Mendicino.
Senior officials of the regime will be deemed inadmissible, he said.
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“Designating regimes as inadmissible under IRPA is a tool employed very rarely because it’s reserved for the most egregious human rights violations around the world and in this case, it is fully warranted,” said Mendicino.
The government is also investing $76 million for law enforcement agencies and other personnel to enhance capacity to seize and freeze assets that would otherwise be used to enhance the Iranian regime’s interests.
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This funding will see the addition of up to 30 new RCMP members and public servants who will track the assets of those who are sanctioned and seize them, according to Mendicino.
“Most importantly, this investment will give Canada the tools it needs to enforce all of the sanctions we have introduced against Iran,” he said.
Mendicino also mentioned the downing of Flight PS752 near Tehran, which killed 176 people, most of whom were headed through Ukraine to Canada.
“Today and every day we hold in our hearts the 55 Canadians, 33 permanent residents and 88 other foreign nationals who were brutally murdered when Flight PS752 was shot out of the sky over two years ago.”
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada will be working with the Canada Border Services Agency and other impacted departments to ensure that Iranian officials and members of the regime who have “implemented repressive measures, violated human rights and spread the Iranian regimes propaganda and misinformation” will not be allowed to use Canada as a safe haven, according to Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser.
Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the federal government would permanently ban more than half – over 10,000 members – of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from entering Canada. Thursday’s update was meant to provide further details on that announcement.
Earlier on Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said Canada is adding more Iranian officials and entities to its sanctions list. The measure will mean 17 individuals and three entities will be barred from entering Canada or doing business with most Canadian firms.
According to Joly, the sanctions are targeted at Iranian officials who have committed or enabled human rights violations against women, or have perpetuated disinformation.
The list includes Iran’s longtime foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Saeed Mortazavi, the prosecutor who ordered the torture of Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian Canadian journalist who died in custody in 2003.
Those listed will have their Canadian-held assets frozen, as Ottawa works to put a new law into action to seize those assets and instead disperse them to victims and human rights defenders.
On Thursday it was announced by a rights group that seven people were killed during protests in Kurdish regions of Iran, where Amini was from, as authorities continue to pursue a deadly crackdown on nationwide demonstrations sparked by her death.
The day before, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed the demonstrations – which have turned into one of the boldest challenges to clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution – as “scattered riots” planned by Iran’s enemies.
The Norway-based Iran Human Rights organization said the civilian death toll during the unrest had increased to at least 201, including 23 minors.
The authorities have said around 20 members of the security forces have been killed.
Protests have also erupted in cities across Canada, including Toronto, as tens of thousands of people show solidarity with Iranians and stand against the Iranian regime.
– with files from The Canadian Press and Reuters
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