{"id":349883,"date":"2026-06-12T22:10:39","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T16:40:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=349883"},"modified":"2026-06-12T22:10:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T16:40:39","slug":"ontario-court-raises-amount-iran-owes-torture-victim-to-560-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/12\/ontario-court-raises-amount-iran-owes-torture-victim-to-560-million\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario court raises amount Iran owes torture victim to $560 million"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>The Ontario court has ordered Iran to pay greater than $500 million to a Canadian tortured by the regime, adding to the $200 million already awarded in a ruling disclosed this week.<\/p>\n<p>In a call handed down on Thursday, the\u00a0judge\u00a0found the Islamic republic was required to pay five per cent interest on\u00a0damages already awarded to the victim.<\/p>\n<p>For the reason that torture occurred in 1990, that amounts to 36 years of interest, or an extra $360 million, bringing the full Iran owes Zahed Haftlang to $560 million.<\/p>\n<p>In keeping with Haftlang\u2019s Toronto lawyer, Mark Arnold, that would be the largest amount a Canadian civil court has ever awarded to a person.<\/p>\n<p>Arnold said he could be serving the judgment to Iran\u2019s supreme leader by email. If Iran doesn&#8217;t pay up, the quantity will proceed to rise at a rate of 4 per cent per yr.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Under Canadian law, victims of terrorism are permitted to say seized Iranian assets to repay settlements ordered by the civil courts.<\/p>\n<p>Tehran didn&#8217;t take part in the <a href=\"https:\/\/canlii.ca\/t\/kl7jz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">civil case filed by Haftlang<\/a>, who got here to Canada as a refugee in 2001 after suffering two years of torture in an Iranian prison.<\/p>\n<div class=\"l-article__part\" data-shortcode=\"caption\">\n<figure class=\"c-figure c-figure--alignleft c-figure--expandable\">\n<div class=\"c-figure__inner\" style=\"width:997px;\"><figcaption class=\"c-figure__caption c-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-caption__desc\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tZahed Haftlang, seen here within the documentary \u2018My Enemy, My Brother,\u2019 was tortured by the Iranian regime and now lives in B.C.\u2019s Lower Mainland.\t\t\t\t<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"c-caption__cite\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tYouTube\t\t\t\t<\/cite><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>His case is the most recent under Canada\u2019s Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, which allows those impacted by terror groups sponsored by Iran to sue for compensation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup\" data-newsletter-inline=\"\">\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup__image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/wp-content\/themes\/shaw-globalnews\/images\/skyline\/national.jpg\" alt=\"Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won't miss a trending story.\">\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup__content\">\n<h2 class=\"c-inlineSignup__title\">Get breaking National news<\/h2>\n<p>Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox because it happens so you will not miss a trending story.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Terror victims have used the law to win several court judgments against Iran. To settle the judgments, Iran\u2019s non-diplomatic assets in Canada have been seized.<\/p>\n<p>Victims also can pursue overseas assets belonging to the Iranian regime and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a listed terrorist group under Canadian law.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The judge presiding over Haftlang\u2019s case found the \u201crevolutionary arm\u201d of the Iranian state, headed by the supreme leader, was chargeable for his torture.<\/p>\n<div class=\"l-article__part\" data-shortcode=\"tp_video\">\n<div class=\"c-video c-videoPlay \" data-iframe-receiver=\"\" data-autoplay=\"\" data-displayinline-featured=\"false\" data-displayinline-type=\"video\" data-displayinline-player-id=\"miniplayer_11901256_6a2c304a5e55d\" data-displayinline-video-id=\"11901256\" data-displayinline-ratio=\"16:9\" data-displayinline=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/video\/embed\/11901256\/#autoplay&#038;stickyiframe=miniplayer_11901256_6a2c304a5e55d\" data-displayinline-sticky=\"true\" data-permutive-data='{\"content\":{\"name\":\"Trump cancels Iran strikes, says deal to end war is near\",\"type\":\"video\",\"sections\":[\"videos\",\"national\",\"politics\",\"world\"],\"keywords\":[\"donald-trump\",\"hormuz\",\"hormuz-blockades\",\"hormuz-closure\",\"international\",\"iran\",\"iran-ceasefire\",\"iran-peace\",\"iran-peace-talks\",\"iran-strikes\",\"iran-u-s\",\"iran-war\",\"kharg-island\",\"middle-east\",\"short-clip\",\"strait-of-hormuz\",\"top-news\",\"trump\",\"trump-iran\",\"u-s\",\"war\",\"global-national\"],\"iab\":{\"categories\":[\"Law and Government\/Government\",\"Law and Government\"],\"tags\":[\"Canada\",\"Children in the military\",\"Court\",\"Damages\",\"Government of Iran\",\"Infidel\",\"Interest\",\"Iran\",\"Iranu2013Iraq War\",\"Iraq\",\"Iraqi Armed Forces\",\"Islamic republic\",\"Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps\",\"Judge\",\"Judgment (law)\",\"Law\",\"Law of Canada\",\"Legislation\",\"Ontario\",\"Refugee\",\"Supreme Leader of Iran\",\"Tehran\",\"Terrorism\",\"Torture\",\"Violence\"]}}}'>\n<div class=\"c-video__inner \">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__placeholder\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'Trump cancels Iran strikes, says deal to end war is near'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.globalnews.ca\/videostatic\/news\/y13g6dup8d-0ydku3saoe\/260611-JACKSON.jpg?w=1040&#038;quality=70&#038;strip=all\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"\" sizes=\"auto, \" data-sizes=\"(min-width: 1040px) 1040px,(min-width: 720px) 720px,450px\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__overlay\"><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<time class=\"c-video__duration\">1:50<\/time><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__title\">Trump cancels Iran strikes, says deal to finish war is near<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"c-tabs\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t<button role=\"tab\" class=\"c-tabs__tab c-tabs__tab--active\" type=\"button\">More on Canada<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t\t<button role=\"tab\" class=\"c-tabs__tab\" type=\"button\">More videos<\/button>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>An auto mechanic in North Vancouver, B.C., Haftlang wrote about his past within the book <em>I, Who Will Not Die<\/em>. Through his lawyer, he declined to comment on the court case.<\/p>\n<p>A toddler soldier throughout the Iran-Iraq war, Haftlang was captured by Iraqi forces and held\u00a0captive\u00a0in 1990. Upon his return to Iran, authorities treated him with suspicion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was an bizarre person upset by the Iran to which he returned,\u201d based on the Ontario court. \u201cThey branded him an \u2018infidel\u2019 and tortured him to condition him into loyalty to the Supreme Leader.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Once he was finally freed, he worked on an Iranian cargo vessel and jumped ship in Vancouver\u2019s English Bay. A\u00a0kayaker in the world\u00a0helped him ashore.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>On May 29, the Ontario court ruled that Iran was chargeable for the abuse it inflicted on Haftlang because his torture was motivated by politics, religion and beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>It due to this fact amounted to terrorism, the court ruled. The choice meant Iran couldn&#8217;t profit from the immunity foreign governments generally enjoy from Canada\u2019s courts.<\/p>\n<p>The court\u2019s ruling\u00a0significantly\u00a0expanded the scope of the violence covered under Canadian laws to incorporate acts committed by Iran against its own residents.<\/p>\n<p>While the case focused on abuses committed within the Nineties, the regime has continued to mistreat its opponents, equivalent to anti-regime demonstrators.<\/p>\n<p><em>Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n\t\t&#038;copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ontario court has ordered Iran to pay greater than $500 million to a Canadian tortured by the regime, adding to the $200 million already awarded in a ruling disclosed this week. In a call handed down on Thursday, the\u00a0judge\u00a0found the Islamic republic was required to pay five per cent interest on\u00a0damages already awarded to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":349884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20691],"tags":[1799,1615,15256,692,20264,13569,3513,21901,10822],"class_list":["post-349883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-amount","tag-court","tag-iran","tag-million","tag-ontario","tag-owes","tag-raises","tag-torture","tag-victim"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349883"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349886,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349883\/revisions\/349886"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}