Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on June 21st, 2022

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

All right.

I wanted to discuss social media. In other studies we've done, we saw how dictatorial regimes tend to use social media to spy on enemies of the government. I know that Facebook and Twitter are banned in Iran.

Can you tell us how the government uses social media to spy on people and muzzle any opponents who may emerge?

[Maral Karimi]

Definitely.

The Iranian regime is learning from the best and the brightest in the world of espionage and cyber-armies, AKA Russia. They have trained a large cyber-army that can pose as just about any kind of.... They come across as being of different political stripes and they spy on people.

Also, more importantly, not only are users on social media responsible for their own tweets, the posts and the content they create on these platforms, but they're also oftentimes responsible for the comments or discussions that other users make about their comments. They often get prosecuted for it. Many bloggers and social media users are now in government jails. Also, the government forces activists and other people they arrest to hand over their social media accounts, and they take over those accounts and create misinformation and disinformation about those.

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

In the news, we've seen how countries like Algeria spy on pro-democracy activists who aren't currently in Algeria but who are in various parts of the world. The country uses pressure tactics, as we saw with Canadian dual nationals who are here and who fight for democracy in Algeria. As soon as they set foot in Algeria again, they are thrown in jail and falsely accused of being terrorists. Then, all manner of administrative methods are used to prevent them from leaving the country.

Does Iran use similar tactics to deter the Iranian diaspora from portraying the Iranian state as an oppressive state? I would think it's done through use social media. Does the Iranian state use those kinds of tactics against enemies of the regime all over the world?

[Maral Karimi]

Definitely. For an Iranian, regardless of whether or not you live in the country or beyond, there is always censorship by the regime. Even Iranians with dual nationality oftentimes have to be careful. Those who live beyond the borders of the Islamic Republic always have to be vigilant of the regime censorship, because if it's not them being targeted, it could be their families.

There have been several instances in which workers and specialists of Facebook, Instagram, etc. have been pressured by the regime to co-operate against the democratic movement. Just recently a small cell was discovered in Germany, which was essentially moderating the content on Instagram during the recent protest that occurred in Iran, and it was kind of eliminating most content that included, for example, “Death to the Ayatollahs” and “Death to Khamenei” and also most content that was contrary to the regime lines, and these people are hired by Instagram.

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Karimi.

My next question is for Mr. Arabi.

Can you talk about the relationship, if any, between the Iranian regime and the Lebanese Hezbollah, the military arm of Hezbollah?

[Kasra Aarabi]

There is a 100% link. Hezbollah was created by the Revolutionary Guards. As I said, Hossein Dehghan, who was the former defence minister of former so-called reformist president Hassan Rouhani in the late 1980s, wrote the Hezbollah charter. The Islamic Republic via the IRGC has been the biggest supporter for Hezbollah ideologically in terms of training, militarily in terms of the supply of arms, and in terms of logistics and coordination.

Hezbollah is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' proxy. It is Iran's proxy group. The group vows allegiance, complete and absolute, to Ayatollah Khamenei as their supreme leader as well as leader of the Islamic world.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sameer Zuberi]

Please conclude your thoughts.

[Kasra Aarabi]

I want to end on this final point. The wages of all Hezbollah operatives are paid by the Islamic Republic. Sources in Lebanon tell me that for ordinary Hezbollah fighters, they are now being paid in local currency by Tehran, as Iran's regime no longer has the funds. From what I've heard from credible sources, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has told them to hold out and wait until sanctions are eased, when they will return to dollar payments. Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah chief, has said explicitly that everything they have comes from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sameer Zuberi]

Thank you, Mr. Trudel.

We will continue with NDP member Ms. McPherson for seven minutes.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to echo my colleagues in thanking the witnesses for being here today. This is obviously very difficult testimony to hear. However, I don't think it's terribly surprising for many of us in this room. We have seen an Iranian regime that has time and time again put the lives of Iranians at risk, has murdered Iranian citizens, has tortured and has committed horrific crimes. As horrible as this testimony is to hear, I don't think many in this room are surprised.

What I think we need to get to the bottom of, as the human rights subcommittee, is the role that Canada can play, how Canada can alleviate what is happening in Iran, and what we can do to support the Iranian people. That has to be our first priority.

I would like to start by getting a little more information about the impacts of this regime on the human rights of women, minority groups and youth in particular, and the way in which Canada can support them, both in Iran and outside of Iran, in Canada.

Perhaps I'll begin with Ms. Karimi and then go to Mr. Aarabi. I don't think we have our third witness with us any longer.

Ms. Karimi, let me start with you, please.

[Maral Karimi]

Definitely. As I mentioned, Iranian women were the first casualties and probably the greatest losers of the Islamic Republic. There is essentially a gender apartheid system in place in Iran. Women's clothing is regulated. Their movements are regulated. Sexism and essentially misogyny are the rules of the land.

However, how Canada can help these groups is... What I would like to ask you here is to frame Iran not simply from the perspective of its relationship with the United States: either as an evil terrorist or as a victim of imperialism. Iran, as is any other country, fifty shades of grey. So there are organic movements, democratic-seeking movements that are shaping up in the country, as well as the IRGC and the Quds Force.

So there is that conflict and contrast, and we need the democratic world, we need Canada to first and foremost recognize that and understand those different shades.

Another issue, which I think my colleagues and other witnesses here pointed out, is that many descendants of the IRGC and the offspring of the ruling elite in Iran live here and essentially use the resources brought over from that country here—resources that can be used in the country for those people. We need Canada to take a better look, a more serious look, at that and to acknowledge that.

We also need support in terms of media. We all know that as soon as an activist or a cause gets to media and gets that kind of attention, both on social media and traditional media, the regime oftentimes has to back out.

If I were to summarize, I would say that at this point, we really need Canada to understand that Iran is fifty shades of grey and there are democratic movements going on and to acknowledge that the resources of the country are being illegally brought to Canada. We need help with recognition of these movements in the media and elsewhere.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you for that. Certainly I recognize that, so we will continue to work from within this room to make sure that recognition is there.

Mr. Aarabi, may I turn to you next, please?

[Kasra Aarabi]

Sure. As I mentioned, Khamenei believes that he has not yet achieved the ideal Islamic society. He is moving towards that. That is why Raisi has been de facto appointed and that is why the revolutionary guard, the hardline enforcers of the regime, are forming the foundation of that administration.

First and foremost, the targets will be women. The clerical regime is not satisfied with the current role of Iranian women in society. Iranian women have resisted the regime's ideal of women being mothers and wives, and there are early warning signs as to what the regime is going to do to counter this effectively and, in their eyes, “restore” women's role as mothers and wives.

The first is, in practical terms, restricting women's work hours and reducing university quotas for women. We've already seen Raisi, for example, late last year, on November 4, say that working hours should not be planned in such a way as to neglect women's roles as mothers and wives. He declared that it is necessary for all companies and departments to set up work plans for women in a way that does not inflict disruption on family life.

Similarly, university quotas are likely to be reduced for women, and there is precedent for this. This happened during the presidency of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Just to give you a flavour of the way in which the Islamic Republic views women, IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi, who is current interior minister, said that if the Islamic Republic is going to be harmed, it will be by women.

There are many steps Canada can take to support Iranian women, who really are at the front line of resisting the regime. We really have a vibrant underground feminist movement in Iran, and they need the West's supports and they are looking for recognition. First, as I mentioned, are Magnitsky sanctions targeting the institutions and the individuals who are responsible for specifically repressing and targeting women. That's the first step that the Canadian government can play. But also—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sameer Zuberi]

Could you just conclude with some brief remarks, as you have 10 seconds, Mr. Aarabi.

[Kasra Aarabi]

Finally, as other panellists have said, global recognition is absolutely key. Canada is, according to the Canadian government, pursuing a feminist foreign policy. As part of that, it must recognize this vibrant feminist movement, underground movement, in Iran, and it must support it in every possible way. A big part of that is international recognition.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sameer Zuberi]

Thank you for that, Mr. Aarabi.

Unfortunately, that concludes our time, but this has been very enriching testimony that you have shared with all of us.

I want to personally thank the witnesses, but also, on behalf of all the committee members, all the staff who are supporting all of the members here. Thank you today for taking the time.

We will be including what you've said in our reports.

Unfortunately, Mr. Kowsar had to leave a bit early to catch a flight, but we want to thank you, Ms. Karimi and Mr. Aarabi, for being here.

We'll suspend for a few minutes.

You can log off, and we're going to bring in our next witnesses.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sameer Zuberi]

I call the meeting to order.

We're going to continue on with our second panel.

Thank you to all of the witnesses for being here, in particular Kylie Moore-Gilbert. We know you're joining us from Australia, where it's in the wee hours of the morning.

In person, we have Hamed Esmaeilion from the Association of the Families of Flight PS752 Victims. It's good to see you in person. We also have Maryam Shafipour, as an individual, who is joining us remotely. Finally, also joining us remotely, we have Karim Sadjadpour, senior fellow, Middle East program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Thank you all for being here.

Without further ado, we're going to start with Dr. Moore-Gilbert, please.

[Dr. Kylie Moore-Gilbert, As an Individual]

Thank you so much for having me and for your warm welcome this morning. It's very early in the morning here in Australia.

You were saying, particularly about the IRGC.... I guess I am a victim of the IRGC myself through my own experiences, but I also witnessed the gross violations of human rights toward Iranian prisoners, toward their own prisoners.

I can speak a little bit about my own experience and also more broadly about their attitudes and behaviours toward political prisoners and more generally within the system itself, building on what the previous speaker, Aarabi, said regarding the fact that there's been this process of state capture and that, often, the Revolutionary Guards really seem to be running the show in areas where the judiciary or the so-called elected wing of the government used to dominate.

I was essentially a diplomatic hostage of the Revolutionary Guards for two years and three months. I was arrested in September 2018 at Tehran Airport. I'm an Australian-British national. I have no link to Iran whatsoever, and I'd travelled to Iran for a brief three-week period to attend an academic conference in my capacity as lecturer on Islamic studies at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

I was arrested at the airport, whilst attempting to depart the country, by the Revolutionary Guards, who accused me eventually of being a spy. I was convicted one year later in a sham trial in a revolutionary court, which obviously is a parallel court system of the Revolutionary Guards within the judiciary. I was given a 10-year sentence. There was absolutely no evidence whatsoever—not even any presented in the closed-door, secretive court.

From the early days of my arrest I was viewed as a bargaining chip by the Revolutionary Guards—essentially a hostage, as somebody who they could exchange for some sort of concessional benefit from one of my countries, because they knew that I was both British and Australian. The Australian government took the lead in negotiating my release and—again, building on what the previous speaker said about the Revolutionary Guards taking over the state or acting as a deep state—the Australian government had to negotiate with the IRGC directly to secure my release, and not with the Iranian foreign ministry or the official law or recognized wing of the Iranian government.

Obviously, they tried talking to the latter at the very beginning, but diplomatically it became clear that they had no power over my case and that they had to go directly to the source, to the hostage-takers themselves, and find out what they wanted. What they wanted was the release of three of their citizens, three IRGC members and IRGC operatives. They wanted their own guys—and not just any old Iranian citizens—from a Thai prison, who had been convicted of attempting to blow up the Israeli ambassador's car in Bangkok about a decade prior.

When I was in prison, I personally was subjected to numerous human rights violations, particularly psychological torture methods and prolonged periods of time in extreme solitary confinement. I spent 12 months cumulatively in solitary confinement. All sorts of human rights of mine were abused. But that was actually the norm, and I saw treatment much worse meted out to Iranian nationals.

Some of the co-defendants of the Canadian citizen, Kavous Seyed-Emami, were my cellmates, and I learned a lot about his fate. Obviously he passed away in Evin Prison in 2018, a Canadian professor, and the circumstances surrounding his death have never been really explained by the Iranian regime. He died in IRGC custody. We were told by IRGC members in the facility, Du Alef, where we were kept at the time, that he actually had a heart attack under interrogation and that it was covered up and made to look like a suicide.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sameer Zuberi]

Ms. Moore-Gilbert, you have about 30 seconds left.

[Dr. Kylie Moore-Gilbert]

Sure. I'm sorry. This is a bit scattered. Obviously, if you have more specific questions speaking to any specific subjects, I'd be more than happy to answer them.

I just want to say that through my lived experience I can bear witness or testimony to multiple types of human rights abuses perpetrated by the Iranian state and the IRGC to not only innocent Iranians but also to foreigners who get caught up in a hostage-taking business model. I'd be happy to take any questions on that subject.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sameer Zuberi]

Thank you, Ms. Moore-Gilbert, for that testimony and for sharing your ordeal with us.

We'll now turn to Mr. Hamed Esmaeilion from the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims.

Just for everybody's witnesses here, I'll put up this symbol for one minute left and this one for 30 seconds.

Please, you have five minutes.

[Dr. Hamed Esmaeilion, President and Spokesperson, Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the honourable members of the committee for giving me your time this afternoon.

Thirty months have passed since the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC, of Iran committed a heinous crime over the skies of Iran by shooting down Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752. Canada's tepid and cautious approach to pursuing justice against the Government of Iran has left many of the families of the victims and many Canadians in a state of despair.

Two and a half years after this crime was committed, the most fundamental facts surrounding this crime remain shrouded in mystery. Knowledgeable observers have every reason to believe that the shooting of the missile at the plane was intentional. In a sense, the Iranian government used the 177 passengers and crew as human shields.

We can all agree that over the course of the past two and a half years, the Iranian regime has refused to provide essential facts to the investigators. Instead, it has systematically lied and misled to successfully impede the emergence of the factual matrix that led to this crime.

Apart from deliberately obfuscating, the Iranian government and the IRGC have subjected relatives of the victims to crushing psychological pressure. As publicly noted by the Prime Minister's special adviser, the Honourable Ralph Goodale, the report provided by the Islamic Republic was shambolic and riddled with lies. Similarly, Ms. Callamard, a former UN special rapporteur, has publicly stated that the narrative offered by the Islamic Republic is merely designed to confuse and bewilder.

Allow me to apprise you of the travesty of justice the families of the victims who are in Iran have faced in their country. The Iranian regime has subjected families in Iran to extreme psychological pressure and physical abuse. A report published by Human Rights Watch in May 2021 references physical torture. I can assure you that the practice has been widespread. Family members in Iran have been subjected to repeated interrogations. Some family members were barred from the courtroom while the entire proceedings were conducted under strict security conditions designed to intimidate. Finally, the show trials orchestrated by the military courts of Tehran were abandoned after challenges were raised by the families in Iran.

Among other such examples, the so-called Iranian Islamic Human Rights Commission has repeatedly harassed families with phone calls and personal visits in an attempt to force them to accept financial compensation or to compel them to sign waivers. According to these waivers, families are expected to waive all their rights and forgo any legal options that may allow them to pursue legal remedies. Fortunately, a majority of the families have rejected such offers.

I should also emphasize that the families of the Afghan passengers who reside in Iran have also been subjected to unimaginable pressures.

More recently in March, when some family members attended a rally in Tehran against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, one of the victim's father was brutally beaten while the mother was dragged on the ground by her hair as she was taken to the local police station. Another one of the victim's father was slapped in the face. Intimidation extends to relatives of the victims here in Canada as well.

After 30 months, the Iranian government's thuggish behaviour and chicanery remains unchecked. None of the five governments that lost their citizens in the tragedy have referred the PS752 file to the International Criminal Court. The RCMP refuses to open a domestic criminal investigation. Moreover, there's no confirmation as to when the file will be referred to the ICAO council or the International Court of Justice.

Similarly, the families' demands to include the IRGC on the list of terrorist organizations in Canada or to impose Magnitsky sanctions have fallen on deaf ears. It is downright absurd and offensive that the United States has listed many more IRGC commanders on its sanctions list than Canada has. Instead, we were recently shocked to hear that the Islamic Republic soccer team had been invited to Canada under the guise of a friendly match. This ill-advised plan was fortunately cancelled thanks to the overwhelming support of Canadians.

The Canadian government's failure to take concrete steps in a timely fashion has emboldened the criminal Government of Iran and IRGC. Insofar as the Iranian government is concerned, it has succeeded in not being held to account for this horrific crime. In the face of all the grief, disappointment and despair, the Association of the Families of Flight PS752 Victims remain steadfast in their commitment to unveil the truth and bring the real perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice.

Let the PS752 and recent Russian atrocities in Ukraine serve as a sober reminder that appeasement of tyrants will only result in more suffering. True justice is not negotiable. We will never forget, nor shall we ever forgive.

Thank you for your time, and I welcome your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sameer Zuberi]

Thank you for that testimony.

Within five minutes, Mr. Esmaeilion, we're going to exchange with you further. Thank you for that.

Next, I will turn to Mr. Sadjadpour for five minutes.

Please go ahead, without further ado.

[Karim Sadjadpour, Senior Fellow, Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]

Thank you very much for inviting me today. It's a pleasure to be with you.

In particular, I want to say how honoured I am to be sharing this platform with Mr. Hamed Esmaeilion. I consider him to be a role model for the Iranian diaspora community. I consider him to be a moral compass for the Iranian diaspora community and all of North America. I really hope that the families of the flight PS752 victims get the justice they deserve.

I also want to recommend to all of you, Kylie Moore-Gilbert's remarkable book, The Uncaged Sky. I've read a dozen of these prison memoirs, and hers was really the most vivid example of the atrocities that are suffered on a daily basis in Iranian prisons. I also am honoured to share the stage with her.

I will be brief in saying that we now have a 43-year case study of the Iranian regime, and although Iran is inaccessible to independent analysis and journalism, perhaps no government in the world has had a more consistent and enduring ideology over the last four decades.

Essentially, there have been three components to Iran's grand strategy: Number one, Iran has sought to defeat what they would call the U.S.-led world order, to defeat a liberal democratic world order and try to replace it with an illiberal undemocratic world order. Number two, Iran has sought to replace Israel with Palestine. Number three, Iran has sought to remake the Middle East in its image.

Now, what Iran has done quite effectively, more effectively than any other country in the Middle East, has been to fill regional power vacuums. I think it's now well established that Iran has outsized influence in four countries in the Arab world: Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq. They have managed to do so by using regional proxies to fill those power vacuums. As the previous panel attested to, I think the Government of Iran has one of the world's worst human rights records, and they have essentially exported that human rights record to their regional proxies.

There are five or six things that Iran's regional proxies have in common. Here we're talking about Lebanese Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, the Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi, the Shia militias in Iraq, as well as many more ancillary groups.

One of the things that Iran and its militias have in common are an intolerance towards women. The second thing is an intolerance towards religious minorities and an anti-Semitism, which all the proxies share. Third is the persecution of LGBT communities. The fourth is hostility, repression of independent thinkers; we've had several assassinations over the years in Lebanon and Iraq. The fifth is accumulation of wealth through illicit means. As a previous panellist pointed out, increasingly a lot of that illicit wealth is showing up in Canada. It is something that I think you need to be mindful of, in the same way that illicit Russian wealth showed up in Europe. We saw the consequences for that. Increasingly, a lot of illicit Iranian wealth is showing up in Canada. Finally, which is also very troublesome, is Iran's use of child soldiers. The Iranian proxies use child soldiers, in particular in Yemen, with the Houthis.

The final thing I will close on is that I want to emphasize something which I know that Kylie could go into much further detail on. It is the case of former Canadian resident, Niloufar Bayani, whom Kylie has written about very eloquently in her book. She is a graduate of McGill University. She has now been a hostage in Iran for four years.

Oftentimes we can speak about human rights in the macro and forget about the individual stories. I was very moved by her story in Kylie's book, and I think she has really been forgotten about. As a former Canadian resident, a graduate of McGill, in addition to the families of the victims of the Ukraine airlines flight, I hope that her fate becomes a priority for the Canadian Parliament.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sameer Zuberi]

Thank you, Mr. Sadjadpour.

We'll continue with our final witness, then on to questions and answers.

Mrs. Shafipour, go ahead, please, for five minutes.