Irwin Cotler has been on Tehran's radar for his global campaign since 2008 to list Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler, who is on an Iranian hit list, says he fears Tehran may have activated sleeper cells in Canada to carry out acts of violence against opponents of the regime.
Mr. Cotler, a noted Canadian human-rights advocate and critic of the Iranian clerical regime, would not discuss his personal security situation since war broke out between Israel and Iran on June 12.
The Globe and Mail reported late last year that Iran allegedly plotted to assassinate Mr. Cotler, founder of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. He also served as Canada’s first special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combatting antisemitism from 2020 to 2023.
“Right now, their policy is to target Jews and others abroad,” he said in an interview Monday, speaking of the Iranian regime. “We also know that they activate sleeper cells that are already present in the country.”
Mr. Cotler said it is important that Canadian spy and law enforcement authorities are working collaboratively “because we don’t want any untoward Iranian penetration at this time.”
Public Safety Canada spokesperson Noémie Allard said the terror threat remains at medium level “meaning that a violent extremist attack is a realistic possibility at this time.”
She added that law enforcement remain on alert and “continue to monitor the residual impact of the evolving situation in the Middle East.”
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Former RCMP commissioner Bob Paulson said the Mounties and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service will be “lit up” to look for activated sleeper cells, criminal networks linked to Iran and lone-wolf attacks.
What is also worrisome, he said, is if an Iranian proxy or member of an Iranian sleeper cell manages to get across the American border from Canada to commit an act of terrorism or violence in the U.S.
“If we are seen to be weak in terms of acting on people here or somebody here goes into the United States and commits a criminal act, it’s big trouble,” he said.
At times like this, it’s important for Canadians to be vigilant and to alert the police if they suspect someone may be about to commit a terrorist act, Mr. Paulson said.
In a report last week, CSIS said the agency “continues to investigate threats to life emanating from the Islamic Republic of Iran based on credible intelligence.”
Mr. Cotler had been under RCMP protection after the Oct. 7, 2023, mass killings in Israel by Hamas gunmen. CSIS told him that he was a high-profile target of Iran, a long-time sponsor of the militant group.
He has been on Iran’s radar for his global campaign since 2008 to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist entity. He has also represented Iranian political prisoners as a lawyer and is a strong supporter of Israel. In June, 2024, under pressure from opposition parties, Canada joined the United States in declaring the IRGC a banned terrorist group. Ottawa severed diplomatic ties with Iran more than a decade ago.
U.S. authorities say the IRGC’s elite Quds Force is largely responsible for foreign operations such as arming Hezbollah and Hamas and carrying out assassinations.
CSIS said Iran mainly uses proxies, such as criminal networks, to go after perceived enemies living in Canada. That activity will continue in 2025 “and may increase depending on developments in the Middle East and the Iranian regime’s own threat perceptions,” the spy agency said last week.
Canadian law enforcement, including the Canada Border Services Agency, will likely increase vigilance at border crossings in case Iranian assets in this country are used to target the American homeland.
In 2024, Canadian citizens Damion Ryan and Adam Pearson were indicted by the U.S. Justice Department for their role in an alleged murder-for-hire plot targeting two residents in Maryland, who had previously defected from Iran. CSIS said the two Canadians were allegedly directed by Iranian-Turkish narcotics trafficker, Naji Sharifi Zindashti, who led a network that targeted Iranian dissidents.
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“This network has carried out numerous acts of transnational repression including assassinations and kidnappings across multiple jurisdictions in an attempt to silence Iran’s perceived critics,” CSIS said in its annual report to Parliament.
In October, 2024, the U.S. Justice Department accused senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard official Ruhollah Bazghandi of involvement in a 2022 plot to kill American human-rights activist Masih Alinejad, using members of an Eastern European criminal organization in New York.
Mr. Cotler said he is also concerned about political prisoners in Iran. He wrote Monday to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, seeking his help to win the release of Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian physician.
He said Dr. Djalali has recently been moved from Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison. Mr. Cotler fears that the physician may be “under imminent threat of execution following prolonged torture and ill-treatment.”
“With Dr. Djalali at imminent risk and others executed as recently as [Sunday], Iran is weaponizing political executions, making rapid action from Sweden more urgent than ever.”