"The Silent Shadows: Iranian Dissidents under Surveillance in Canada."

Paymaneh Sabet is a journalist and an Iranian human rights activist currently living in Malaysia. 

  In 2015, I reached out to the United Nations and detailed the threats from the Iranian regime. They had warned me that just as they hunted down and assassinated Dr. Shapour Bakhtiar in exile, they could find and kill me too. But the UN dismissed it, as they have dismissed so many cries for help since. Over the years, I've reported injuries from my early activism in 2012 and 2013, forcing me into hiding in an undisclosed location in a different state. If I'm still alive today, it's only because I've confined myself to my room for many years—a torturous, unhealthy existence that no ordinary person should endure. During the Mahsa Amini uprising, my colleagues and I at Iran Hamava faced direct threats from the Ministry of Intelligence. I sent audio files, translations, and letters they'd forwarded to the European Parliament straight to the UN. Their response? Evasion—demanding Word files instead of voice files and  PDFs instead of Word files, anything to avoid action.

                                                                    

  This year, I alerted them again. The regime is dispatching terrorists disguised as athletes to harm political refugees abroad. After endless deflections (refusing to let me present evidence), they finally suggested I cease my political activities for my own safety. This, while I bombarded them with cases of activists abducted or murdered overseas—from the horrific killing of Fereydoun Farrokhzad and his wife, to Babak Nemati in Norway, to staged "suicides" of refugees in Turkey, to the kidnappings of Ruhollah Zam and Mehdi Khosravi, a British citizen, during a trip to Italy. The UN? Silent, indifferent.

  My story is not unique. It's a thread in a vast tapestry of terror woven by the Islamic Republic, extending its lethal reach far beyond Iran's borders. And nowhere is this more alarmingly evident than in Canada, a nation that prides itself on safety and multiculturalism but has become a fertile ground for the regime's assassins and agents. Iranian dissidents living in the Great White North are under constant siege, their lives hanging by a thread as Tehran's proxies operate with chilling impunity.

  Take the case of Irwin Cotler, Canada's former justice minister and a vocal critic of the Iranian regime. In October 2024, the RCMP informed him of an imminent assassination plot orchestrated by Iranian agents—within 48 hours. The plot was foiled, but Cotler remains under police protection, a stark reminder that even high-profile figures aren't safe. Cotler, who is Jewish and has long advocated for human rights, was targeted not just for his politics but as part of Iran's broader campaign against dissenters and perceived enemies. This isn't isolated; it's part of a pattern where the regime hires local thugs to do its dirty work.

  In January 2024, U.S. authorities indicted an Iranian national and two Canadians with ties to the Hells Angels in a murder-for-hire scheme aimed at Iranian dissidents on American soil. But the rot spills over into Canada. These same networks—drug dealers, gang members, and regime sympathizers—operate freely north of the border, blending into communities while plotting kidnappings, hacks, and killings. One such plot involved Naji Sharifi Zindashti, an Iranian drug lord, coordinating assassinations via encrypted apps, enlisting Canadians to target critics.

  Iranian-Canadians have long sounded the alarm. In Toronto, regime supporters openly threaten dissidents, invoking the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) to instill fear. During protests following the downing of Flight PS752—where the IRGC killed 176 innocents, many Canadian—these agents harassed grieving families, infiltrating communities to silence voices.

  The dangers extend beyond assassinations. Dissidents face surveillance, intimidation, and even vehicular assaults. Firas Al Najim and Mohammad Assadi, known harassers, have targeted Iranian protesters in Canada for months, attempting to run them over and spewing death threats against regime opponents and unveiled women, whom they deride as "prostitutes."

  Abroad, the regime's transnational repression is relentless. Amnesty International has documented abductions and killings of dissidents worldwide, a history of impunity that emboldens Tehran. Women activists, in particular, face digital horrors like deepfake pornography and online harassment, a new frontier in state-sponsored terror.

  Canada's immigration policies exacerbate the issue. Regime officials slip in with ease, as seen with Morteza Talaei, a former IRGC commander and Tehran police chief notorious for torturing dissidents, who was granted a visa and spotted in Richmond Hill. Families of PS752 victims feel unsafe, questioning why such figures roam free while they live in fear. Even Saudi dissidents like Saad Aljabri have faced hit squads sent to Toronto, intercepted only by chance at the airport.

 The Iranian diaspora in Canada isn't divided between "hardliners" and "reformists"—millions reject the Islamic Republic entirely. Yet, the media often amplifies regime apologists while smearing genuine dissidents as "fringe." Organizations like the Iranian Canadian Congress are perceived as regime lobbies, further eroding trust.

                                                                               

  As I sit in my self-imposed isolation, I wonder, how many more must die before the world acts? Canada, with its values of justice, must go beyond symbolic gestures. Now that the IRGC is designated as a terrorist entity, it must expel regime agents and protect dissidents from transnational repression. The regime's shadows grow longer, but so must our resolve. For every threat ignored, a life is endangered. It's time to shine a light—and fight back.