Foreign Affairs Committee on June 3rd, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 111 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.

Before we get started, I want to explain to everyone that last week we were having many challenges with translation. We're trying to ensure, hopefully, that this is not going to be our experience here today.

Before we begin, I'd also like to ask all members and other in-person participants to consult the cards on the table for guidelines to prevent audio feedback incidents.

Use only an approved black earpiece. Keep your earpiece away from microphones at all times. When you are not using your earpiece, place it face down on the sticker placed on the table for this purpose.

Thank you all for your co-operation.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format.

I'd like to take a few minutes for the benefit of members and witnesses. Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. You may speak in the official language of your choice. Interpretation services are available. You have the choice of floor, English or French. If the interpretation is lost, please inform us immediately.

In accordance with the committee's routine motion concerning connection tests for witnesses, I can assure you all that the clerk has kindly looked into that and she's run all of the tests in advance.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Thursday, February 16, 2023, the committee will commence its study of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the current human rights situation in Iran.

Now I'd like to welcome our two distinguished witnesses. We're very grateful to have you both here. You have many years of advocacy under your belts, but I recognize full well that you have been very busy over the course of the past two years.

I'd like to welcome Ms. Nazanin Afshin-Jam, who is a human rights and democracy advocate appearing on behalf of the Iranian Justice Collective. As well, we have Mr. Saeid Dehghan, who is a human rights lawyer and director of Parsi Law collective.

You will each be provided five minutes for your opening remarks, after which we will open it up to questions from the members.

Once again, you get five minutes for opening remarks, and then you have to make sure you wrap it up if it's running over. If you see me holding this cellphone up, it means you really should be wrapping up within 10 to 15 seconds.

With all of that having been explained, we'll start off with Ms. Afshin-Jam.

The floor is yours. You have five minutes for your opening remarks.

[Nazanin Afshin-Jam, Human Rights and Democracy Advocate, Iranian Justice Collective]

Thank you, Chair and honourable members of Parliament. On behalf of the Iranian Justice Collective, a non-partisan group that echoes the voices of Iranian Canadians and freedom-loving Iranians inside Iran, I thank you for this invitation to speak on this critically important issue for all Canadians: listing the IRGC on the terrorist list under the Canadian Criminal Code.

As we all know, the House of Commons unanimously has voted to have the IRGC proscribed twice now—once six years ago and again just a few weeks ago today. Today I'll dispel myths about the IRGC and speak to the nature of this repressive force domestically and internationally, and I hope to table some policy recommendations from our team to support making this a reality.

First, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is not equivalent to the Iranian army. They are two separate forces. The duty of the army, like any army, is to protect Iran's borders, sovereignty and people. After the Islamic revolution in 1979, a paranoid Ayatollah Khomeini, the supreme leader, created the IRGC as a counterweight to the army in case of a coup d’état, and to specifically protect his Islamic regime and defend it against any threats internally or externally—in other words, to suppress anyone who got in the way of his power and expansion of extremist jihadist Islamist ideology.

The IRGC's role increasingly became more powerful in foreign policy, and it now controls over 30% of the economy. One can equate it to a large, corrupt mafia group comprising 150,000 members involved in money laundering, transnational terror, selling drugs on the black market, expropriation of property, extrajudicial killings, targeted assassinations, cyberwarfare and the spread of Islamist propaganda. Being economically enmeshed with large industries—including manufacturing, shipping and banking—finances its activities, weapons acquisitions, covert operations and nuclear program.

Internally they exist to quell all internal dissent. Any time you have seen video footage of women in Iran being beaten and dragged screaming into police vans because of not properly wearing a hijab or of Christians arrested for worshipping in underground churches or Kurds being gassed or children being executed or peaceful protesters being intentionally shot at, blinded, raped or tortured, these are all the acts of the IRGC and its paramilitary subgroup, the Basij. My own father was tortured and almost executed at their hands.

There are no proper trials in Iran because there is no rule of law. Judges are allowed to mete out rulings based on ordained knowledge coming from God—sham trials lasting five minutes with no proper legal representation—resulting in thousands of innocent political prisoners being executed, and even the journalists reporting on the matters or lawyers representing them are jailed. Iran has the highest number of executions worldwide per capita, with 800 people hanged last year alone. The United Nations fact-finding mission report on Iran concluded that the violations of human rights amounted to crimes against humanity. This gender-apartheid regime and the IRGC have no regard for human life.

Outside of Iran, the IRGC uses other terrorist groups in the axis of resistance as their proxies to carry out terror and to expand their extremist anti-west, anti-Israeli ideology. Iran is the biggest state sponsor of terrorism, responsible for allocating billions of dollars to fund and train Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other terrorist factions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, not to mention helping Assad's regime in Syria, which killed half a million people.

They continue to foster ties with other authoritarian regimes like Russia, providing them with drone-launched glide bombs used against innocent Ukrainians. I just had lunch today with the Nobel peace laureate from Ukraine, and she expressed this concern on behalf of the Ukrainian community as well.

Please note that the regime is continuing with nuclear proliferation, with uranium enrichment at 65%, which will be an existential threat to not only Jews but to our whole western civilization and way of life. If we do not do something now, their terror will spread like cancer and cost us even more—politically through foreign interference, economically through cyberwarfare and money laundering, and in lives through terrorism here in Canada.

I'd be happy to provide specific examples for each of these three groupings.

The U.S. designated the IRGC a terrorist organization in 2019, and the EU member states seem to be headed in that direction. We expect Canada to be in line with our closest allies and to seal the deal once and for all.

I have a network of 90 Iranian diaspora groups made up of legal experts and other technocrats who are ready to help any task force that is set up to draft a strong Iran policy to combat these security concerns and work through any impediments slowing this designation.

We want to keep Canada safe. We want Magnitsky sanctions enforced to keep these regime officials out and their assets frozen and to reverse the narrative that has been established that Canada is a safe haven for these criminals, while satisfying the aspirations of 80% of Iran's population, who want an end to this regime and a free, secular and democratic Iran.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you very much, Ms. Afshin-Jam.

We will now go to Mr. Dehghan.

You have five minutes as well. The floor is yours.

[Saeid Dehghan, Human Rights Lawyer and Director of Parsi Law Collective, As an Individual]

Thank you.

Honourable members of the foreign affairs and international development committee, good afternoon. I would like to thank you for providing me this opportunity to deliver remarks regarding the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, or IRGC, and the current human rights situation in Iran. In my brief remarks, I would like to share my perspective and concerns and offer some recommendations.

As an Iranian human rights lawyer, I have acted as counsel and represented over 130 defendants who have faced politically motivated prosecution before the Iranian courts, and I have as well represented Iranian citizens and dual nationals appearing before revolutionary courts.

I can confidently state that the Iranian judiciary has no independence in such cases and that so-called security judges presiding over these cases simply rubber-stamp decisions dictated to them by organizations associated with the security apparatus, particularly the intelligence organization of the IRGC.

During the first decade of my legal work, the IRGC interfered in all of these cases behind the scenes, and the basis for decisions rendered was never codified in judicial rules or regulation; however, starting in 2015, as the IRGC commanders assumed an even tighter control of parliamentary prosecutors, they also legislated a process that would be favourable to the security establishment by codifying it in the code of criminal procedure.

These new regulations empowered two security and military organizations acting at the behest of the IRGC to act as judicial officials. This meant that members of the intelligence organization of the IRGC and Basij were now fully authorized to manipulate and predetermine the outcome of proceedings regarding prosecutions that occurred before the revolutionary courts, using article 29 of the code of criminal procedure.

Following these sinister developments, I believe that the entire legal and judicial framework of the Iranian court system collapsed. The Iranian court system has no semblance of justice or of judicial independence. Three years ago, I analyzed this development in detail in an article entitled “Legal Collapse: The Last Crisis of a Political System” that was published by the BBC.

This collapse has come about because members of parliament as well as members of the Guardian Council do not represent the innocence of people and do not act to safeguard what is usually referred to as the public interest. Instead they represent the political leadership of the theocratic regime and the intents of the IRGC; therefore, it should come as no surprise that they will legislate laws and regulations that are merely concerned with protecting the state apartheid and demonstrate absolutely no regard for the public interest or the rule of law.

As we have seen in the aftermath of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, instead of implementing justice, judges merely act in accordance with the oath they have taken to protect the supreme leaders and serve the Islamic revolution. They will prosecute innocent protesters with the utmost cruelty and harshness.

The IRGC effectively controls all the political, economic, judicial and social levers in Iran, and even cultural institutions, like an octopus with multiple arms. We are witnessing the consequences of this domination in the form of gender apartheid, which complements and reinforces long-existing ethnic and religious-based discriminations.

In conclusion, I would like to offer the following two recommendations.

First, the Canadian government should lead global efforts to recognize gender apartheid as a crime under international law, or more specifically, to codify gender apartheid as a crime against humanity. Much like racial apartheid represented a most serious and unacceptable international crime, so does gender apartheid. The Canadian government should work with like-minded countries and allies to draft a resolution recognizing gender apartheid, just as resolution 3068 effectively defined racial apartheid as an international offence and crime in 1973.

Second, the Canadian government should target the overwhelming economic interests of the IRGC with smart sanctions so that the IRGC's security and intelligence arms are substantially weakened and their repression and their implementation of gender apartheid are no longer permitted.

Both of these actions are urgent and time sensitive. I urge you to pursue them as high priorities.

Thank you for your attention and concern. I look forward to answering any questions you may have.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you very much, Mr. Dehghan.

We now go to the members for questions.

MP Epp, you're up first. You have six minutes.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to both of our witnesses for your excellent testimony and for your advocacy.

I'd like to begin with Madam Afshin-Jam.

You talked about the repression inside Iran and also alluded or spoke directly to repression outside, transnationally.

Can you talk more specifically about the repression here in Canada? How is it carried out? Is it done through an external terrorist group?

There have been reports of up to 700 agents. Can you elaborate on that?

[Nazanin Afshin-Jam]

Absolutely. Even though in April of this year the regime launched 300 missiles directly into Israel from Iranian soil, traditionally they carry out their terror through proxies or criminal gangs. They were found guilty by Argentinian courts for the 1994 bombings of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people, and the embassy as well. Just a few days ago, it was reported in the news that the regime had hired a top European gang to plant a bomb in the Israeli embassy in Sweden.

Here in Canada, Hells Angels gang members were hired to carry out an assassination plot against a dissident Iranian couple in Maryland, Washington, for $350,000. Eastern European gang members were also hired by the regime to assassinate a top activist in New York. Luckily, they caught the perpetrators, but Jimmy Sharmahd, a German national and U.S. resident, was not so lucky: He was kidnapped and now faces the death penalty in Iran.

Journalists at Iran International news agency have also had attempted assassination plots against them, and the U.K. found that there were 10 foiled kidnapping or assassination plots there. CSIS also identified at least three Canadians on a regime target list. Of course, you all know about the shooting down of the PS752 flight carrying 176 people, with 55 of those people being Canadians and 30 of them permanent residents. The IRGC was responsible for that.

I myself have been threatened numerous times that if I did not stop my activities, I would be targeted or my loved ones would be. Just a few weeks ago, my organization, Iranian Justice Collective, was here on the Hill meeting with parliamentarians, and one of my colleagues, when she returned back home, had a call from her mother, and was then passed on to an IRGC official. He had said to her that if she didn't stop her activities, she would end up like the women that she's trying to defend. We escaped Iran to feel safer here in Canada, yet we're always looking over our shoulders when we're doing speeches, when we're rallying. We're always scanning the audience to see who's there.

As you mentioned, investigative piece by Global News found that there were 700 IRGC regime affiliates here in Canada. Nine of them are set to be deported, but what we're suggesting is that instead of deporting them, we hope Canada exercises its universal jurisdiction and opens trials against them and sets an example that human rights abuses cannot go ahead with impunity.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

You've also touched on cyberwarfare. How are they doing that here?

[Nazanin Afshin-Jam]

Yes. Cyberwarfare is also a huge problem. It's one of the largest and most sophisticated cyber-armies, alongside Russia's and China's, costing hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to western institutions, critical infrastructure, high-value businesses and government agencies. These activities include using ransomware and targeting hospitals.

The headline in the Globe and Mail in August 2023 read “Cybercriminals in Russia and Iran will threaten Canada's security and economic prosperity, say intelligence agency and RCMP”. Its cyber-army is in the tens of thousands, and they're hired also to spread online propaganda, spread disinformation and create dissent among the Iranian opposition.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Dehghan suggested two recommendations. I know the IJC has also put forward recommendations. Do you agree with the two recommendations put forward by Mr. Dehghan, and what other recommendations might you have?

[Nazanin Afshin-Jam]

Absolutely. I support the campaign to end gender apartheid in Iran. I'm actually a core member, core person, in a group of Iranian and Afghan activists who launched the campaign to end gender apartheid. What we're trying to do is expand the legal definition of apartheid to include not just race but gender as well. We're trying to codify it in international law so that those who are responsible for these crimes can hopefully be prosecuted one day in the International Criminal Court, but also, symbolically, for me, this campaign isn't just about gender issues specifically.

I know that as parliamentarians, you can't come straight out and say that you are for regime change in Iran, but you can support a campaign like ending gender apartheid. Former prime minister Brian Mulroney championed ending racial apartheid in South Africa. He convinced people like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher to have the political will to stand behind a campaign like this, and I believe we can champion the same to end gender apartheid in Iran.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Thank you.

I want to get one question in to Mr. Dehghan.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Mr. Epp, you only have five seconds left.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

I'm so sorry about that, MP Epp.

Next we go to MP Zuberi. You have six minutes.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here today. I want to thank you for your courage, strength and advocacy on this very difficult issue, which I know takes quite a toll on you personally and on those around you. I just want to acknowledge that fully.

Having legal training, I'd like to start off with Saeid, please.

I'd like you to elaborate more about the judicial system. You said that you have represented 130 individuals, if I gathered correctly, both in the Iranian courts and also at the revolutionary courts.

Has there been an erosion of the justice system over the last years? Is there a distinction between these two courts?

About the basic principles of due process and the right to mount a case, can you speak about these basic principles in law as they relate to those first two points, please?

[Saeid Dehghan]

Let me speak Farsi for the answers in the Q and A section, please.

[Witness spoke in Persian, interpreted as follows:]

I would like to speak about the courts of Iran. The truth is that revolutionary courts in Iran, in all of the cases I had there, you can for sure say that none of them.... The revolutionary courts are under the security judges. Under their leadership, they provided order according to what they have sworn. The result is that none of them have anything to do with any of the judgements. They are all political decisions.

From point A, from the time of arrest, it's like kidnapping. Without any judicial system, they go to security courts. They go into these courts, and then investigators from the Sepah interrogate them without representation. Under torture, they will admit to certain items. That is been taken, and then the order will be in just three courts in the whole country. Those are the revolutionary courts I am talking about.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you.

As for the civilian courts, how drastically different...or to what extent are basic principles respected?

Please give a succinct answer. We also understand that Iran is not Canada, but we still expect some semblance of process.

[Saeid Dehghan]

It's a good question.

[Witness spoke in Persian, interpreted as follows:]

I have to insist that civil courts are different from revolutionary courts. Civil courts are independent. They are specialized. Perhaps there is some sort of corruption in there, but we are not talking about those courts. We are talking about the revolutionary court and sometimes the criminal court.

The civil courts are totally different. Because of the religious rules, they come into play, but I have to insist that civil courts are totally different. I am just referring to the revolutionary courts.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

This is for our second witness.

You mentioned an important point about where America is with respect to the IRGC. You also mentioned that the EU is looking at this issue.

I want to ask this question so that we can get it for the record: Have any European nations yet listed the IRGC?

If we know this, it'll help us in our.... Please.

[Nazanin Afshin-Jam]

No. Officially, no European country has yet listed it, although the European Parliament unanimously called for the designation. Josep Borrell, the head of the European Council, said that they needed more legal proof that there was terrorism or terror on European soil. There is a lot of proof, so that, I think, is just a political excuse.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

I understand. I just want to get one last question in.

First, however, if any intimidation is directed toward you personally or those around you because of this testimony, please do let us—the committee—know later on.

In the last seconds that remain, how can we, from here, support individuals who are targeted within Iran in a way that will help people? Do you have any suggestions on how we can effectively do that from here?

[Saeid Dehghan]

[Witness spoke in Persian, interpreted as follows:]

You can just look at some of the cases in Europe from 1997. The Boroumand foundation provided a report. Just recently, a woman from France was killed in Iraq. Another one was Masih Alinejad; there was the intention to kidnap her. There is enough proof.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you.

We now go to Mr. Bergeron. You have six minutes.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank both witnesses for being with us today. I also thank them for the work they do every day to defend human rights in Iran.

Ms. Afshin‑Jam, in your presentation, you were careful to distinguish between the Iranian army, or armed forces, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. You said that one function of the Iranian army was to, quote unquote, protect the public. You also told us that Ayatollah Khomeini created the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to counterbalance the army and prevent it from carrying out a potential coup d'état.

Since 1979, has it ever felt like the Iranian army was working to protect the public?