Mahdi Nasiri let the world know that he was heading to Canada in April.
The former high -profile Iranian official published a series of farewell photos, including a farewell hug, on Instagram for its more than 250,000 followers and any other person to see.
He has been in Canada since then.
But now, according to a source, its name has been informed to the RCMP. And the Canadian security authorities face public calls to investigate why he was allowed to enter in the first place, and if they expelled him.
“To see that Canada can easily come and, in fact, celebrate it, and publish photos from the airport saying ‘I have arrived’, triggers the alarms among many Iranians,” said human rights lawyer Kaveh Shahrooz.
Nasiri has been described as an important hard alineator in Iran during the 2000s. He did not denied his roles past to CBC News, but also said that he has criticized Iran’s regime during the last six years and now supports the country’s liberal opposition leader.
The Trudeau government promised in 2022 to take energetic measures against current and former Iranian regime officials living in Canada after increasing public pressure and security concerns. Iranian Canadians had reported harassmentIntimidation and surveillance that they believed was linked to Tehran. The Canada Espionage Agency verified death threats Iran were real. And a Explosive Eye. UU. Revealed An Iranian plot to kidnap Canadians.
Canadians of Iranian ancestry are worried members and the affiliates of the Islamic Republic of Iran can continue to reach Canada as the pressure in the regime increases. They say that Canadian officials are not acting quick enough to stop it, and some are taking the matter in their own hands.
In response, the Government designated Government’s leadership, Iran’s security and intelligence agencies as inadmissible for Canada in 2022 for allegedly participating in terrorism and systemic and gross violations of human rights. This designation expanded last year to ban anyone in Canada who served as the senior official with the Iran government at any time since June 2003.
But Nasiri is the last case that raises questions about how effective it is the repression of Canada. Until now, only a senior Iranian official has been withdrawn from the country.
Nasiri’s role in the 2000s
Nasiri is known for his role as managing director of the most conservative Iranian newspaper, Kayhan, in the 1990s, funded by Iran’s Supreme leader.
“It was very prominent in the state media, which is often the platform that the regime itself used to go after dissidents, to create charges against people who are Franco,” said Shahrooz, who criticizes the regime.
Nasiri was appointed for a key role as a political deputy of the Fulification Council of Fulification of Friday IMAMs throughout the country from 2001 to 2005.
“Friday’s prayers are the main platform on which Iran offers their points of conversation and propaganda to supporters, and it is a work entrusted to people closely linked to the regime,” Shahrooz said.
“The fact that he had that role tells me that it was part and plot of this regime.”
Nasiri was appointed main representative of the office of the Supreme leader Ali Khamenei in the Arab Emirates together until 2009, according to the Iranian media reports.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) says, in general, the senior Iranian officials that served from 2003 onwards are inadmissible for Canada. But he will not say if he is investigating the case of Nasiri.
Nasiri defended himself when he contacted CBC News to comment.
“I have repeatedly explained my professional experience in media interviews and I have openly criticized that period,” Nasiri said in a written statement. “There is nothing hidden in my past.”
“In addition, I have never occupied any military, security or intelligence position. My role in the Kayhan newspaper was journalistic and my position within the organization of Friday’s magnets was religious and devotional.”
Nasiri would not confirm whether his last work with the Iran Government was in the EAU when CBC News asked him.
Visitor Visa issued in 2023
Nasiri said he only took a few days in 2023, before the ban was expanded, to obtain a visitor visa attached to his passport of the Canadian consulate in Istanbul. His son is a Canadian citizen who invited him and his mother to visit, he said.
A visitor visa can be valid for up to 10 years.
When asked if he revealed his time with Iran’s government to Canadian officials, Nasiri said he didn’t have to do it.
“They only asked me about my activities in the last 10 years, during which I have not held government posts,” Nasiri said.
CBC News asked immigration, refugees and citizenship of Canada why Nasiri was supposedly asked about his previous work experience.
The department said he cannot comment on specific cases, but said that visa applicants are “carefully evaluated.”
“The senior officials subject to the designation of the regime could cancel their visa, lose their temporary or permanent residence and be removed from Canada,” said IRCC spokesman Jeffrey Macdonald.
Kelly Sundberg, a professor of Criminology at Mount Royal University who specializes in border security, says it is not surprising that Nasiri has not asked more questions.
He says that the detection and application of Canada’s immigration is “at a point of crisis.”
Speaking widely about the system, Sundberg said that “the departments of CBSA and federals have been very aware of this negligence and, often, have turned a blind eye intentionally.”
Nasiri said that “he would prefer not to respond” if he faces an immigration audience, but confirmed that he is not aware of any CBSA investigation into his visa.
Calls to investigate
Nasiri told CBC News that he understands that Iranian Canadians are concerned about current and previous regime officials in Canada. He said that “they are justified in their concerns” and called the Islamic Republic of Iran “a dictatorial and repressive regime.”
“However, I have been an active critic and, in fact, an opponent of the Islamic Republic during the last six years,” Nasiri said in his statement to CBC News.
He said that he now has a “liberal position” and supports the leader of the Iranian opposition Reza Pahlavi, a defender of liberal democracy and member of the dynasty that ruled the country before the 1979 revolution.
Nasiri has an active YouTube page where he frequently publishes his critical interviews in the regime, even in the BBC.
CSIS recently confirmed that there are multiple ‘credible’ death threats from Iran aimed at people in Canada. The main correspondent of CBC News, Adrienne Arsenault meets several Iranians who describe their experiences of being monitored and intimidated on Canadian soil.
Iranian analyst and journalist Babak Taghvaee says he wants Canadian security officials to analyze Nasiri’s case due to what he calls “red flags.”
Taghvaee published an article with American Think-Tank The Middle East Forum on how Iran’s officials supposedly rename the opponents of the regime to stay in Canada, and appointed Nasiri as an example.
He said that Nasiri was once one of the “most important intransigents” in Iran.
Taghvaee says that his role as an editor in Kayhan suggests that he could have had the highest levels of authorization of Iranian intelligence and that he was cooperating or even collaborating with them. He also said that his role with Friday’s prayer magnets was important because it is known that they receive regime directives.
“They receive orders to talk about specific issues during Friday’s prayers,” he said. “On politics, security and military economies and anything related to what the regime wants with the purpose of psychological war and propaganda.”
Taghvaee says that former members of the Iranian regime who are trying to establish themselves in Western countries commonly criticize the regime and the side of opposition parties to create evidence of a future case of refugees or asylum.
“Sometimes, these people are afraid to be deported or arrested. They enter the survival mode,” said Taghvaee, who has been critical of the regime.
Nasiri says he has not requested refugee status and hopes to return to Iran soon, but did not say when.
Regardless of his position publicly, Vancouver’s lawyer, Mojdeh Shahriani, points out that the existing Canadian law should prevent high Iranian officials such as Nasiri from entering the country.
“If you really changed or not, it is not for me to judge, and you really don’t care about law,” Shahriani said.
‘It’s almost ridiculous’
CBSA says that since 2022, more than 130 alleged visas of the Iranian regime officials were canceled, 20 people were reported inadmissible and three cases have conducted immigration hearings that result in deportation letters.
“It’s almost ridiculous, unfortunately,” Shahriani said.
Shahriani is a former member of the Immigration Board and refugees in Canada and now directs a base group that says he is investigating more than 375 alleged members of the Iranian regime, their families and businesses on Canadian soil.
She says that CBSA numbers are “tiny” compared to the evidence that Shahriani transmitted to the Canadian authorities of approximately 100 alleged Iranian officials who are already in Canada.
She will not say if Nasiri is one of them, citing confidentiality.
“The question is: How the hell are these people obtained a visa to come to Canada first?” She said.
