Canada Orders Deportation Of Former Iran Official

Canada has expelled another former senior Iranian official as part of efforts to ban regime figures from seeking refuge there.

According to Global News on Wednesday, Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) ordered the deportation of Salman Samani, Iran's deputy minister of interior during Hassan Rouhani's term as president.

The tribunal’s verdict is issued in compliance with the Canadian sanctions imposed against Iranian officials following the 2022 nationwide protests triggered by the death in morality-police custody of Mahsa Amini.

Salmani is the second high-ranking Iranian official who has been ordered to leave Canada. In February, Majid Iranmanesh, a director general at Iran's Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology, was also forced to leave.

Before the verdict, Iranmanesh asked the court to allow him to leave the country voluntarily without a deportation order, which he said would interfere with his research in different countries.

Global News further reported that the IRB is considering the expulsion of a third senior member of the Iranian government.

“The IRB has refused to identify him, and has opted to hold his hearings behind closed doors, apparently because he is claiming to be a refugee,” Global News added.

The Immigration and Refugee Board is also set to decide the fates of another nine high-ranking Iranian officials following their participation in deportation hearings.

Many Iranian political activists and opposition figures contend that Tehran has been using Canada as a platform to further its malicious activities via the regime’s agents there.

In November, Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada’s opposition Conservative Party, confirmed reports of “well-placed regime thugs” in Canada who spend the money that “they stole from the Iranian people.”

He called for tightening immigration regulations to ensure that anyone “willingly associated” with the Iranian government should not be eligible for entry to Canada.