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Canada’s intelligence agency announced that it is investigating reports of people who have received death threats from Iran. The death threats are allegedly an attempt to silence those who speak out against the Islamic Republic.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service said in a statement over the weekend that it is investigating reports from people residing in the country who have received “credible” death threats from Iran. The statement added that the death threats to the individuals were aimed at “silencing those who speak out publicly” against Iran. The CSIS is collecting information from those who have received harassment and intimidation linked to the Islamic Republic.
“CSIS is actively investigating several threats to life emanating from the Islamic Republic of Iran based on credible intelligence,” said the statement. The agency is also coordinating with Iranian-Canadian communities that have been “disproportionately” targeted, according to the statement.
This comes as Canada has sanctioned Iran over the alleged human rights abuses, including the death of Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini back in September for allegedly flouting the Islamic Republic’s imposed dress code on women. Amini’s death in the custody of the morality police has sparked public outrage and widespread protests across the country.
Tehran has also sought to blame its foreign enemies, particularly the United States, for using the unrest to destabilize the country’s clerical regime. The widespread protests have been described as the biggest show of opposition to the government since the 1979 Revolution, led by women and students.
The Canadian agency’s statement follows the warnings by the United Kingdom’s intelligence chief that Iran’s intelligence services have made at least 10 attempts to kill or kidnap British nationals based in the UK that Tehran saw as a threat.
MI5 Director-General Ken McCallum said last week that while Tehran is engaging in a violent crackdown on the clerical regime’s critics at home, its intelligence service was “aggressively” posing a threat to the UK.
“At its sharpest, this includes ambitions to kidnap or even kill British or UK-based individuals perceived as enemies of the regime,” said McCallum in his remarks at the agency’s headquarters. “We have seen at least 10 such potential threats since January alone.”
