A deportation hearing got underway in Toronto on Monday for an alleged senior member of Iran’s repressive regime who has been living in Canada.
Abbas Omidi served in a high-ranking government position in Iran before arriving in Canada in 2022, in response to allegations made on the hearing.
The Canada Border Services Agency said he spent 27 years working for the Iranian public service, and was a deputy within the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade.
As a “senior official” within the Iranian government, the 55-year-old will not be allowed to stay in Canada, the immigration enforcement agency said.
The 2-day hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board will determine whether Omidi will receive a deportation order.
Omidi is one in all 32 suspected past and present high-level officials of the Iranian government identified during an immigration crackdown.
The CBSA alleges they should not permitted to stay within the country due to a 2022 policy that bars them as a result of their government’s abuses.
Monday’s hearing began with questions on his employment history.
Forms he submitted to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said he had worked for the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, which is sanctioned in the USA.
But Omidi denied working there and said the organization appeared on his forms due to an error by Google Translate.
Omidi’s hearing is the primary held in public since pro-regime forces killed 1000’s of demonstrators participating in nationwide protests against the federal government in January.
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A war launched by the USA and Israel on Feb. 28 can also be 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 East neighbours and attempting to choke off oil and gas shipments passing its coastline.
Global News first reported on Omidi’s deportation case last month but at his hearing on Feb. 4, the Immigration and Refugee Board banned reporters from observing.
The Board did so after Omidi asked to have his deportation conducted behind closed doors. He then asked to ban the press from reporting his name or his lawyer’s name.
But Global News fought the extraordinary restrictions, and the Refugee Board ruled on March 10 that the matter would proceed in public.
“For all Canadians, I find that transparency regarding the form of allegation Mr. Omidi is facing is a very important safeguard that permits accountability, deters impunity, and reinforces public confidence in Canadian legal processes and institutions,” the Board wrote.
“On this context, hiding Mr. Omidi’s identity would have a powerful deleterious/negative effect on the general public’s interest within the open court process.”
The Refugee Board also said there was no credible evidence that Omidi or his family can be in danger in consequence of a customary open hearing.
Ottawa announced greater than three years ago that senior Iranian officials and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members weren’t allowed in Canada.
The policy was a response to the killing of Mahsa Amini, who died while in state custody after Iran’s religious police arrested her for showing her hair in public.
Her killing sparked a women’s rights movement that was violently quashed by the theocratic regime of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the outset of the Iran war, but has now been replaced by his son Mojtaba, signalling the regime has no intention of reforming.
But while border officers have identified greater than two dozen Iranians living in Canada whom they imagine are senior regime members, removing them has proven difficult.
The IRB has allowed five of the alleged officials to remain in Canada, while just one has been deported up to now, although several have also left voluntarily.
Others are still within the queue for hearings. Only five of the cases have been held in public, including Omidi’s. Global News appealed to open them.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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