The federal government is listing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization
The federal government is listing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization under Canada’s Criminal Code after years of mounting pressure.
Federal ministers delivered the news Wednesday afternoon, hours after CBC News first reported the government was preparing to make the announcement.
“This action sends a strong message that Canada will use all of the tools at its disposal to combat the terrorist entity of the IRGC,” Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc told reporters. “Our government will ensure that there is no immunity for Iran’s unlawful actions and its support of terrorism.” Once a group is placed on the country’s terror list, police can charge anyone who financially or materially supports the group and banks can freeze its assets.
The IRGC is a branch of the Iranian armed forces that answers directly to Iran’s supreme leader. The IRGC shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 above the skies of Tehran in January 2020, killing 175 passengers, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly warned that Canadians in Iran might face a heightened risk of arbitrary detention after Wednesday’s announcement.”For those who are in Iran right now, it’s time to come back home. And for those who are planning to go to Iran, don’t go,” Joly said.
This latest development comes after years of pressure on the federal government to list the IRGC.
The association representing family members of Flight PS752 victims, members of the Iranian Canadian community, the Conservative Party and the NDP have all called on the government to designate the entire militia group as a terrorist entity. The MPs of Canadian Parliament voted unanimously last month to do so.
Hamed Esmaeilion, a board member with the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims, said the families are “happy to hear” the government is moving forward with this designation after they demanded it at every rally and event they held over the past four years.
“It has been a long journey. Long and painful,” said Esmaeilon, who lost his daughter and wife on Flight PS752. “It’s very important to punish those people or those organizations that were involved in atrocities against Canadians and Iranians.
Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong said his party has been calling on the government to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization for six years, ever since the House of Commons first adopted a Conservative opposition motion to do so in 2018.
“Because of the government’s inaction over the last six years, the Iranian regime’s capabilities here in North American have only increased,” Chong said Wednesday. “The government is only taking action now because of recent reports outlining that increased capacity by the Iranian regime.”
NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson called the move a “good step,” adding that “it should not have taken this long.”
Source: CBC News, Canada
19th June 2024
