Iranian officials are banned from Canada — but this former regime member landed in April

Mahdi Nasiri said that he was on the way to Canada in April.

The former high -level Iranian official has published a series of farewell photos – including a goodbye hug – on Instagram for his more than 250,000 subscribers and any other person to see.

He has been in Canada since.

But now, according to a source, his name has been reported to the RCMP. And the Canadian security authorities faced public calls to investigate why it was authorized to enter in the first place – and if it were to be expelled.

“To see that he can easily come to Canada and make him celebrate it, and publish photos of the airport saying” I have arrived “, it triggers alarms among many Iranians,” said lawyer and human rights activist Kaveh Shahrooz.

Nasiri was described as an important hard in Iran in the 2000s. He did not deny his roles spent at CBC News, but also said that he had criticized the Iran regime for six years and now supports the country’s liberal opposition leader.

The Government of Trudeau promised in 2022 to repress the current and former officials of the Iranian regime living in Canada after setting up public pressure and security problems. Iranian Canadians had reported harassmentintimidation and surveillance that they thought were linked to Tehran. The Canada Espionage Agency checked death threats Iran was real. And a The explosive American indictment revealed An Iranian plot to kidnap the Canadians.

In response, the government has appointed leaders of the Iranian government, security and intelligence agencies as inadmissible in Canada in 2022 for having allegedly engaged terrorism and systemic and gross human rights violations. This designation extended last year to ban anyone from Canada who has been a senior Iranian government since June 2003.

But Nasiri is the last case raising questions about the efficiency of Canada’s repression. Until now, a single senior Iranian official has been removed from the country.

Nasiri’s role in the 2000s

Nasiri is well known for his role as director general of the most conservative Iranian newspaper Kayhan, in the 1990s – funded by the supreme chief of Iran.

“It was very important in the state media, which is often the platform that the regime itself used to pursue dissidents, to create accusations against people who are frank,” said Shahrooz, who criticizes the regime.

Nasiri was then appointed to a key role as a political deputy for the Imams’ policies for Friday imams across the country from 2001 to 2005.

“Friday prayers are the main platform that Iran offers its discussion points and propaganda to supporters, and is a job entrusted to people closely linked to the regime,” said Shahrooz.

“The fact that he had this role tells me that he was an integral part of this regime.”

Nasiri was then appointed principal representative of the office of the supreme chief Ali Khamenei to the United Arab Emirates until 2009, according to Iranian media.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) generally affirms senior Iranian officials who served from 2003 are inadmissible in Canada. But that will not say if he examines the case of Nasiri.

Nasiri defended himself when he was contacted by CBC News to comment.

“I have repeatedly explained my professional history in interviews with the media and I openly criticized this period,” Nasiri said in a written statement. “There is nothing hidden in my past.”

“In addition, I have never occupied a military position, security or intelligence. My role in the Kayhan newspaper was journalistic and my position within the organization of Friday imams was religious and devotional.”

Nasiri would not confirm if his last job with the Iranian government was in the water when asked by CBC News.

Visa of visitors issued in 2023

Nasiri said it only took him a few days in 2023 – before the ban was extended – to obtain a visitor from a visitor attached to their 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 up to 10 years.

When asked if he had disclosed his time with the Iranian government to Canadian officials, Nasiri said he didn’t have to do so.

“I have only been questioned about my activities in the past 10 years, during which I have not held any government position,” said Nasiri.

CBC News asked immigration, refugees and citizenship Canada why he would not have questioned Nasiri about his previous work experience.

The ministry said that he could not comment on specific cases, but that visa candidates were “carefully assessed”.

“The senior officials subject to the appointment of the regime could have their visa cancel, lose their temporary or permanent status of residence and be withdrawn from Canada,” said IRCC spokesperson Jeffrey Macdonald.

Kelly Sundberg, professor of criminology at Royal Mount University who specializes in border security, says he is not surprising from Nasiri, he was not asked more questions.

He says that the screening and the application of immigration to Canada are “at a time of crisis”.

Speaking of the system, Sundberg said that “the federal services of the ASSS and the CBSA were well aware of this negligence and have often intentionally closed their eyes”.

Nasiri said he “would prefer not to answer” if he faced an immigration hearing, but confirmed that he was not aware of any ASSSA investigation into his visa.

Calls to investigate

Nasiri told CBC News that he understood that Iranian Canadians were concerned about current and former officials in Canada. He said “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 for six years,” said Nasiri in his statement to CBC News.

He said that he now had a “liberal position” and supports the head of the Iranian opposition Reza Pahlavi, a supporter of liberal democracy and a member of the dynasty who led the country before the 1979 Revolution.

Nasiri has an active YouTube page where he frequently publishes his interviews criticizing the diet, including on the BBC.

Iranian analyst and journalist Babak Taghvaee said he would like Canadian security officials to examine Nasiri because of what he calls “red flags”.

Taghvaee published an article with American Think -Tank The Middle East Forum on the way Iranian regime officials would go again as a regime opponents in Canada – and named Nasiri as an example.

He said Nasiri was once one of the “most important rigid” in Iran.

Taghvaee says that his role as editor -in -chief of Kayhan suggests that he could have had the highest levels of authorization for Iranian intelligence and cooperate or even collaborate with them. He also said that his role with Friday prayer imams was important because they are known to receive regime guidelines.

“They are ordered to talk about specific subjects during Friday prayers,” he said. “Regarding politics, military security and economies and everything related to what the regime wants for psychological warfare and propaganda.”

Taghvaee claims that former members of the Iranian regime who are trying to settle in Western countries generally criticize the regime and the side of opposition parties to create evidence for a future refugee or asylum case.

“Sometimes these people are afraid of being expelled or arrested. They go into survival mode,” said Taghvaee, who criticized the regime.

Nasiri says he did not ask for the status of refugee and hopes to return soon to Iran, but did not say when.

Whatever his position publicly, the lawyer for Vancouver Mojdeh Shahriari stresses that existing Canadian law should prevent senior Iranian officials like Nasiri from entering the country.

“That he has really changed, it is not for me to judge and does not really concern the law,” said Shahriari.

‘It’s almost laughable’

The ACSA says that since 2022, more than 130 visas of the leaders of the alleged Iranian regime have been canceled, 20 people have been reported by inadmissible and that three cases were carried out through immigration hearings, which led to letters of expulsion.

“It’s almost laughable, unfortunately,” said Shahriari.

Shahriari is a former member of the Canada Immigration and Refugees Council and now leads a basic group who, according to her, is investigating more than 375 presumed members of the Iranian regime, their families and businesses on Canadian soil.

She says that the number of CBSA is “tiny” compared to the evidence that Shahriari adopted in Canadian authorities of around 100 Iranian officials allegedly alleged in Canada.

She will not say if Nasiri is one of them, citing confidentiality.

“The question is: How did the devil these people get a visa to come to Canada first?” She said.