A senior member of Iran’s repressive regime, who lives in Canada, is due to face an extradition hearing in Toronto on Monday.
Abbas Omidi served in a high-ranking government post in Iran before arriving in Canada in 2022, according to allegations made at the hearing.
Canada Border Services Agency He spent 27 years in the Iranian public service and was a deputy in the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade.
As a “senior official” in the Iranian government, the 55-year-old is not allowed to stay in Canada, the immigration enforcement agency said.
A two-day hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board will determine whether Omidi receives a deportation order.
Omidi is one of 32 suspected former and current high-level Iranian government officials identified during the immigration crackdown.
The CBSA alleges that they are not allowed to stay in the country because of the 2022 policy, which bars them because of their government abuses.
Monday’s hearing began with questions about his employment history.
In forms he submitted to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, he said he worked for the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, which was sanctioned in the United States.
But Omidi denied working there and said the firm appeared on his forms because of a Google Translate error.
Omidi’s trial was the first to be held in public since pro-regime forces killed thousands of protesters in nationwide anti-government protests in January.
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The war, launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, is now in its third week and has brought renewed attention to Iran’s cleric-controlled government.
Iran has responded to the attacks by firing missiles and drones at its Middle Eastern neighbors and tried to shut down oil and gas shipments that pass its coast.
Global News first reported Omidi’s deportation case last month but at his hearing on February 4, the Immigration and Refugee Board banned reporters from observing.
The board did so after Omidi asked to conduct his deportation behind closed doors. He then asked the newspapers to ban him from reporting his name or that of his lawyer.
But Global News fought against the extraordinary restrictions, and the Refugee Council ruled on March 10 that the matter would go forward publicly.
“For all Canadians, I find that transparency about the charges Mr. Omidi faces is an important safeguard that enables accountability, prevents impunity and strengthens public confidence in Canada’s legal processes and institutions,” the board wrote.
“In this case, the concealment of Mr. Omidi’s identity would have a strong detrimental/negative effect on the public’s interest in an open court process.”
The Refugee Council said there was no credible evidence that Omidi or his family would be in danger as a result of the traditional open hearing.
Ottawa announced three years ago that senior Iranian officials and members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would not be allowed in Canada.
The policy was a response to the killing of Mahsa Amini, who died in state custody after Iran’s religious police arrested her for showing her hair in public.
Her assassination sparked a women’s rights movement that was violently quashed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s theocratic regime.
Khamenei was killed in an airstrike early in the Iran war, but has now been replaced by his son Mojtaba, suggesting the regime has no intention of reforming.
But border officials have identified more than two dozen Iranians living in Canada who they believe are senior administration members whose removal will be challenging.
The IRB has allowed five accused officials to remain in Canada, but only one has been deported so far, although several have left voluntarily.
Others are in the queue for trial. Only five cases, including Omidi’s, have been made public. Global News has requested that they be opened.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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(Tags to be translated)Iran War(T)Canada Border Services Agency(T)Canada Iran Sanctions(T)Immigration Refugee Board(T)Canada(T)World
