Iran
People demonstrate during a protest for Mahsa Amini who died in custody of Iran's morality police, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on October 1, 2022. Photo: Mathiew Leiser/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Canada is set to deny the entry of ten thousand “officers and senior members” of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to the country and formally designate the group as a terrorist organization, the country’s prime minister announced on Friday, adding that sanctions against the Islamic republic will be drastically expanded.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country will utilize the most powerful provision of its immigration and refugee protection act to formally make 10,000 officers and senior members of the Iranian regime “inadmissible to Canada for their engagement in terrorism and systemic and gross human rights violations.”
Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets in country-wide protests stemming from the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a Kurdish woman after her arrest by the country’s so-called morality police for allegedly breaching the Islamic republic’s strict dress code. The demonstrations have triggered a violent crackdown by Iranian authorities.
At least 154 people have been killed since nationwide protests erupted in Iran on September 16, the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Organization (IHR) reported Tuesday.
“The Iranian regime continues to demonstrate its blatant disregard for human rights and human life. Canada unequivocally stands in solidary with people marching in the streets of Iran, and the streets of cities around the world, in the name of freedom and justice,” Trudeau said in a news conference, labeling the sanctions placed on the Islamic republic as “the most powerful tools” in the North American country’s arsenal.
Trudeau also confirmed that the newest wave of sanctions falls under the country’s special economic measures act and will specifically target Iran’s economy.
“The IRGC leadership are terrorists. The IRGC is a terrorist organization. Today, Canada is formally recognizing that – and acting accordingly,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said, calling the Iranian regime “a state sponsor of terrorism … repressive, theocratic, and misogynist.”
Canada’s decision to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization falls in line with neighboring United States, which also has the force on its terror blacklist.
Global rallies, including in Canadian cities, have been held in solidarity with Amini’s death with many symbolically cutting off their hair.
Iranian authorities accuse Kurdish opposition groups based in neighboring Kurdistan Region of fueling the protests. The IRGC late last month bombarded the Region’s Erbil and Sulaimani provinces with over 73 ballistic missiles and suicide drones, targeting bases of the opposition groups.
At least 16 people, including one child, were killed and over 50 injured in the attacks, according to data collected by Rudaw.
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