The Canadian Security Intelligence Service said it is aware that state actors from the Islamic Republic of Iran are monitoring and intimidating people inside Canada to silence those who speak out publicly against the regime.
“CSIS is actively investigating various threats to life emanating from the Islamic Republic of Iran based on credible intelligence,” CSIS spokesman Eric Balsam said in a media statement to CBC News.
“Ultimately, these hostile activities and foreign interference undermine the security of Canada and Canadians, as well as our democratic values and sovereignty.”
It’s the first time the agency has confirmed multiple ongoing investigations into what it calls “death threats against Canadians and people in Canada” coming from Iran.
The details were provided to CBC News after Britain’s domestic intelligence chief revealed Wednesday that the U.K. faces a major security threat from Iran, Russia and China — countries the U.K. accuses of using violence and intimidation in abroad to pursue their interests.
A photo obtained by AFP from outside Iran on September 21 shows Iranian protesters taking to the streets of the capital Tehran during a protest against Mahsa Amini, days after she died in police custody. (AFP via Getty Images)
In the past two months, protesters have taken to the streets in Iran to protest the regime. The mass protests were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the so-called morality police and died in custody after allegedly wearing her hijab improperly.
At least 341 people – including teenagers and children – have been killed and more than 15,800 arrested in connection with the protests in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, an Iranian activist group. Experts suggest the real numbers could be much higher, given the regime’s crackdown on releasing real-time information online.
MI5, the UK’s domestic counter-intelligence agency, said Iran’s intelligence agency was targeting dissidents abroad they “viewed as enemies of the regime”.
MI5 Director General Ken McCallum gives a speech at Thames House in central London on November 16. (Yui Mok/Associated Press)
Ken McCallum, director general of MI5, said Iran was responsible for at least 10 potential threats to kidnap or kill British or British-based individuals this year.
“Iran poses a direct threat to the UK through its aggressive intelligence services,” McCallum said.
“The Foreign Secretary made it clear to the Iranian regime just last week that the UK will not tolerate intimidation or threats against journalists or anyone living in the UK.”
Canada’s government last year condemned Iran’s “pattern of intimidation and foreign interference” after US authorities laid charges of an alleged Iranian plot to they kidnap five people and take them to Iran — including three people from Canada.
Family members in Canada who criticized the Iranian government after losing loved ones in the 2020 downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 have also told RCMP they have been the target of threats and intimidation from Tehran. Flight 752 was shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shortly after takeoff on January 8, 2020, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board.
CSIS said in its 2021 annual report that it continued to “investigate credible reports” of “threat actors linked to proxies of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
WATCH/Families of Flight 752 victims report threats
Families of Flight 752 victims report threats
Loved ones of Canadians and permanent residents who died in the crash of Ukrainian Airlines flight PS752 say they have received an increasing number of threats believed to be originating from Iran and within Canada. Dennis Horak, Canada’s former charge d’affaires to Iran, said kidnapping and killing people abroad has been part of the Iranian regime’s playbook for decades. He said the latest threats are a reminder of the nature of the regime. “This is a regime that does not play by the rules internationally and never has,” said Horak, who worked at Canada’s embassy in Tehran from 2009 until it closed in 2012. In the late 1980s through the 1990s, many Iranian dissidents disappeared or were killed abroad. Iranian agents assassinated Sadegh Sharafkandi, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, in Berlin at a restaurant. The Germans prosecuted the case and issued international arrest warrants in 1997 for top Iranian regime officials. Horak said it was rare for MI5 to reveal the number of attempts, which could signal the agency’s level of concern. “The British may feel that the Iranians have nothing to lose at this point in terms of their international borders, so they may strengthen them and go after some of the people who are making the most noise about what’s going on at home,” he said. CSIS said that while it cannot comment on specific cases, it urges people in Canada who believe they are being targeted by Iran to contact the RCMP. The organization said it works with domestic and international partners and the Iranian-Canadian community. The Iranian diaspora in Canada continues its own protests. the next one is scheduled for this weekend.
