Alleged Iran-backed plot to assassinate Jewish activist foiled in Canada

An alleged attempt to assassinate Jewish-Canadian human rights lawyer Irwin Cotler by Iranian agents, has been foiled, according to the Globe and Mail.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police informed Cotler on October 28 that he was at imminent risk of assassination within 48 hours, from two Iranian agents, according to an anonymous source speaking to the newspaper.

The veteran campaigner, who as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, launched Canada's first National Justice Initiative against Racism and Hate, has been under 24/7 protection from the RCMP since last year’s October 7 attacks in Israel by Iran-backed Hamas.

The Globe and Mail reported that The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) told him that he was a high-profile target of Iran, and as such, he was given protection including bulletproof vehicles and heavily armed officers.

Cotler, an international human-rights lawyer and parliamentarian from 1999 until 2015, has criticized Iran for its conduct in the 2020 downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, in which 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents were among the 176 people killed. The airliner was shot down as it was taking off from Tehran with two missiles fired by the IRGC air defense forces.

He has also been vocally against Tehran’s support of groups designated as terrorists be governments, including Hamas, after the October 7 attacks in Israel which killed over 1,100 mostly civilians and saw more than 250 people taken hostage to Gaza.

Dozens of such plots have been foiled around the world in the last two years, in countries including the UK, US and Europe, as Iran tries to assassinate Jewish and Israeli targets, in addition to dissidents abroad. US authorities have also accused Tehran of being behind plots to kill President-elect Donald Trump and his former top officials.

Earlier this year, Canada, which severed diplomatic ties with Iran over a decade ago, joined the US in branding Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps a terrorist group, as plots continue to emerge globally.

Cotler also campaigned since 2008 to have the IRGC designated a terrorist entity.

This month, in one of the highest profile cases, the US Justice Department charged Farhad Shakeri, accused of being an Iranian government asset, in connection with an alleged plot ordered by Iran’s IRGC to kill Trump.