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‘Don’t interfere’: Ottawa warns Iranian embassy over alleged recruitment of expats in Canada
Kathryn Blaze Carlson
11 July 2012
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/11/dont-interfere-ottawa-warns-embassy-after-accusations-iran-is-recruiting-expats-in-canada/
Kathryn Blaze Carlson
11 July 2012
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/11/dont-interfere-ottawa-warns-embassy-after-accusations-iran-is-recruiting-expats-in-canada/
Continues at link.Canada’s Foreign Affairs department issued a warning Tuesday to Iranian diplomats who are allegedly using their Ottawa embassy to recruit Iranian-Canadians to serve the Islamic Republic’s interests.
“Iranian-Canadians have rejected the oppressive Iranian regime and have chosen to come to Canada to build better lives,” a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said in a statement to the National Post. “The Iranian Embassy should not interfere in their choices. Canadian security organizations will act to prevent threats and intimidation of Canadians.”
News of the alleged mobilization effort emerged this month in a Farsi-language interview given by Hamid Mohammadi, a cultural affairs counsellor attached to the Iranian embassy in Ottawa, to an Iran-based website directed at Iranian expatriates in Canada. In his interview with Iranians Residing Abroad, Mr. Mohammadi apparently urged Iranian-Canadians to “occupy high-level key positions” and “resist being melted into the dominant Canadian culture.”
Mr. Mohammadi, who estimated the Iranian-Canadian population at 500,000, said recent Iranian immigrants have “decisively preserved strong attachments and bonds to their homeland,” while the “younger second generation” is already “working in influential government positions.”
Most ominously, he mapped out how he says his country plans to recruit Iranian-Canadians under the guise of a cultural outreach program: “By 2031, the total immigrant population of Canada will increase by 64%, and the number of Iranians will increase due to birthrate,” he said. “So, therefore, we need to put into effect very concentrated cultural programs in order to enhance and nurture the culture in this fast-growing population. It is obvious that this large Iranian population can only be of service to our beloved Iran through these programs and gatherings.”
On Tuesday, Iran’s top diplomat to Canada said his embassy is following Canadian and international laws, outright dismissing Tuesday’s Ottawa Citizen report that Iranian-Canadians are being enlisted to serve Tehran.
“We strongly dismiss baseless allegations by [some] media that [the] ‘Iranian Embassy has been recruiting ethnic Iranians in Canada to be of service to Iran,’” Kambiz Sheikh-Hassan, the Iranian charge d’affaires, said in a statement.
Experts say Mr. Mohammadi’s startlingly blunt interview has not only jeopardized Canada’s national security reputation abroad, but also sparked very real fears of espionage, terrorist recruitment and a possible attack on the U.S. from north of the border............