Eshagh Ghalibaf studied at an Australian university and vacationed in Milan, Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich, Dubai and Istanbul before setting his sights on Canada.
He can be the son of a hardline member of the Iranian regime, which has killed 1000’s of protesters and is now attacking its neighbours with missiles.
Although his father, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, has said the Islamic republic would defend itself “until the last breath,” his son appears to have avoided compulsory military service.
Documents obtained by Global News show that when Eshagh applied to immigrate to Canada he was asked for details of any armed forces duty. He wrote, “none.”
As Iran’s regime suppresses its opposition and targets surrounding Gulf countries in response to the U.S. and Israeli war, its little kids live more comfortably.
They’re in North America and Europe, and include the kids of a number of the Iranian government’s most outspoken defenders.
That could be a sore point amongst many Iranians, who taunted the regime about it during a protest in Tehran in January, chanting, “Their child is in Canada, our child is in prison,” in line with a video of the incident.
High-level government officials have themselves moved overseas, including greater than two dozen alleged to have relocated to Canada, some with their children.
The Canada Border Services Agency has been attempting to deport them since 2022, with little success. Just one has been faraway from the country to this point, although others face pending hearings.
Following an appeal by Global News, the Immigration and Refugee Board on Tuesday identified the most recent Iranian citizen the CBSA has sent for a deportation hearing for being a suspected “senior member” of the regime, Abbas Omidi.
But activists said it was particularly troubling that regime children were having fun with Western freedoms while Iranians have few rights under the system enforced by their parents.
The son of Iran’s longtime foreign minister Mohammad Jarad Zarif, for instance, lives in Manhattan, in line with an online petition that calls for his deportation.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein).
The daughter of Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, also lives in the US, the Guardian reported.
Because the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khomeini, Larijani has emerged as a key regime figure, and has insisted his government wouldn’t give up.
He recently made headlines for warning the U.S. to “watch out to not get eliminated.” His nephews live in Canada and the UK, the Guardian further reported.
“The list goes on and on and on,” said Maral Karimi, a professor at Toronto Metropolitan University’s department of politics and public administration.
“It is kind of common. I mean, right here in Toronto, where I live, is one in every of their strongholds. Many Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and other government elite live in Toronto, either themselves or their families, or each.”
An engineer by training, Eshagh Ghalibaf, the 38-year-old son of the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has applied to maneuver to Canada twice, records show, and was most recently rejected in 2024.
He didn’t reply to questions sent by Global News.
His father recently spurned calls for a ceasefire, writing in a social media post that “we consider we must strike the aggressor within the mouth in order that it learns a lesson.”
The son’s current whereabouts aren’t known, but in a court case he filed in Canada as a part of his try to immigrate, he wrote that he had temporary residence in Australia until 2022.
Documents filed in Federal Court in his case indicate that he applied for a visa to review in Ottawa in 2013 but after it was denied, he enrolled at Melbourne University.
While Iranian men are required to serve two years of military service upon turning 18, the documents on his case indicate he has never done so.
As a substitute, in line with his Canadian immigration file, he visited greater than a dozen countries, listing the aim of his travel as “tourism.”
Banking records he filed in court show payments at sushi and Vietnamese restaurants, automotive rentals and a Spotify subscription.
In 2019, he applied to immigrate to Canada, after which launched a court case claiming the federal government was taking too long to approve him.
“The delay has a direct impact on many facets of my life,” he wrote in an affidavit filed in Federal Court as a part of his bid to maneuver to Canada.
“I even have already said no to 2 latest construction projects in Iran within the last two years during which I used to be going to take a task as a site manager,” he said.
“This might have provided me with the next income and a greater profession path, nevertheless, since these opportunities require long-term commitment, as I remain uncertain of after I will finally be granted my PR, I needed to turn them down.”
Iranian Basiji men carry mock missile, trailing cleric, at parade Tehran, Iran, Jan. 10, 2025. Photo by Hossein Beris/Middle East Images/ABACAPRESS.COM.
He said he owned two properties in Tehran but had “lost the chance of developing” them due to the uncertainty over his Canadian immigration.
“This caused me an enormous loss of cash,” he said.
He said he had told potential employers in Canada he can be arriving inside six months, but continued to attend for his immigration papers.
“The prevailing delay in processing my PR [permanent residence] application has caused tremendous opportunity loss in life,” he wrote.
“Moreover, I even have met an exquisite woman in Iran with whom I feel we are able to construct a life together. Nevertheless, I’m now holding back on taking it further as I have no idea where I’ll find yourself or after I can come to Canada.
“This puts an unlimited psychological burden on my on a regular basis life.”
In its defence, the federal government said the delay in approving his immigration was the results of the “must conduct security screening.”
Without mentioning his father, the Federal Court wrote in its 2023 ruling that “little or no has happened” within the processing his application.
“That is despite repeated inquiries in regards to the matter from the office of a Member of Parliament, Pierre Poilievre,” the judge wrote.
The file shows that a staff member within the Conservative leader’s Ottawa riding office repeatedly contacted Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada about this case.
Poilievre’s spokesperson didn’t reply to a request for comment.
Iranian community and supporters rally in Ottawa in solidarity with protesters in Iran, after Mahsa Amini died in police custody, Sept. 25, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang.
After his try to immigrate was reported by Iran International, activists launched a petition calling on Ottawa to dam him from Canada.
In a Feb. 21, 2024 social media post, then-immigration minister Marc Miller said the federal government had refused his everlasting residency application.
One other online petition launched in January 2026 demanded that Australian border authorities expel him. It has gathered greater than 125,000 signatures on the location change.org.
The organizer of the campaign couldn’t be reached for comment, however the petition called him the embodiment of “stark inequality and injustice.”
“While the common people of Iran suffer under a cruel regime, these privileged families bask in safety, far faraway from the implications of their actions,” it said.
Deporting him was about “not nearly removing one individual, but about sending a robust, unequivocal message to the Islamic Republic and its affiliates that hypocrisy and injustice won’t be tolerated.”
“We call on Western governments to carry the Islamic Republic’s privileged families accountable for the roles they not directly play in supporting and upholding a system that brutalizes its own people.
“Safeguarding their lifestyles while odd Iranians struggle for freedom is unacceptable.”
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
