From Tehran to Toronto: The International Threat to Iranian Dissidence
Eli Lang, Online Branch, Staff Writer
January 13th, 2023
Protests that have shaken Iran since September of 2022, and the Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown in response, have captured the world’s attention. The global community has been reminded of the constant intimidation Iranian citizens face from their state. The arrest and murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for wearing her headscarf improperly, and the Iranian police’s overwhelming use of violence against protesters, have been shocking. Iran’s morality police and internet blackouts have revived awareness surrounding the overbearing role of Iran’s police and government within the state’s borders. However, a lesser acknowledged, but incredibly concerning aspect of Iran’s Machiavellian behaviour, is the regime’s ability to strike fear into their critics across the globe.
Terrorism and political assassinations on foreign soil have become regular Iranian state practices since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The 1980s and 90s in particular saw waves of frequent and brazen murders of regime critics around the globe. Iran’s foreign assassination plots have implicated their supreme leaders, intelligence services, and even their diplomatic representatives (Koshnood, 2020). Iranian leaders are clearly capable of, and willing to, take lives well beyond their borders. Historically, Iranian state terrorism and assassination have largely targeted Israeli, Arab, or Western targets (Nada and Hanna, 2020). However, the regime has also plotted against Iranian dissidents living abroad, and concerns are growing surrounding these cases, as the Iranian state faces increasing criticism over human rights abuses against its own citizens. Outside of their region, Iranian agents have been increasingly coercive and threatening to exiled or emigrant dissidents, striking fear into the hearts of the Iranian state’s critics who, at one time, may have felt that they had found security abroad.
Since September in particular, Iranian journalists and activists reporting on the Mahsa Amini protests have received an onslaught of threats from the regime. Journalists working out of Western democracies are being reminded of Iran’s commitment to silencing critics, no matter the distance. U.K. counterterrorism police have reached out to Iranian activists warning them of their concern surrounding possible physical attacks against dissidents in Europe. One Iranian journalist exiled to the U.K., and currently under police protection, believes that the Iranian government has already sent agents to London to act upon their threats (Harding, 2022).
The Persian community in Canada is feeling increasing concern over their own experiences with Iranian state harassment. Not only high-profile dissidents, but also ordinary Iranian-Canadians are being targeted. In discussion with the CBC, anonymous Iranians have claimed to receive threatening text messages and calls from unknown numbers, demanding explanations for attending rallies or posting anti-regime content on social media. Maryam Shafipour, an Iranian activist living in Toronto, has expressed that she feels she is being actively surveilled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Shafipour explained that she is aware that the IRGC have threatened her family in Iran, and also that they described to them the exact view from her apartment window in Canada (Hennessey and Swyer, 2022). Shafipour left Iran to find a sense of security, once having been an inmate of Iran’s notorious Evin political prison. However, she feels that the Canadian police have been unresponsive to her pleas for help and remains fearful for her safety in the face of these threats. Shafipour’s concerns are further justified, as Iranian security officials who are sanctioned by the Canadian government have been openly spotted in Toronto. In 2021, the former police chief of Tehran and IRGC Brigadier General, Morteza Talaei, was spotted at a Toronto gym (Burke and Tizhoosh, 2022). Talaei’s ability to gain entry to the country sparks well-warranted concern over Canada’s stance on Iranian human rights offenders.
In November, CSIS revealed that it was investigating a number of credible death threats coming out of Iran (Scherer, 2022). This announcement, and a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) release from July of 2021, indicate awareness of serious threats towards Iranian dissidents in North America. The report released by the DOJ outlined events preceding the death of Mahsa Amini, with detailed allegations of Iranian officials involvement in a plot to kidnap an American-Iranian journalist in New York. The release claimed that the plot was also connected to other surveillance activities and kidnapping plots in Canada, the U.K., and the United Arab Emirates (U.S. DOJ, 2021). Iran is not the only state with a history of covert intimidation in foreign countries, but current Iranian events and regime activity warrant particular attention. The Iranian people are struggling to advocate for human rights in their country in an unusually emboldened movement. The role of dissidents abroad is becoming increasingly important, especially as the threats that they endure continue to grow.
The testimony of Iranian dissidents, and the findings of major Western intelligence agencies, has revealed the dark reality that the Iranian regime is capable of projecting fear across the world and into the heart of democratic states. Many envision democracies like Canada as safe havens from authoritarianism, but many Iranians speaking out for democracy from Canada still do so in the face of a danger that is all too real. Several hundreds have been killed or imprisoned in Iran for criticizing the murder of Mahsa Amini and the Islamic Republic’s actions as a whole. Just as the sacrifices of these people should not be forgotten, the courage of the Iranian dissident community abroad should not be overlooked. The brutality of the Iranian police state, and their desire to silence dissents, extends far beyond the streets of Tehran, and Iranian activists persist despite that unsettling reality.