Canada deports former Iranian guardsman
By The Canadian Press
Tue. Jun 9 - 4:45 AM
VANCOUVER — A former member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has been deported from Canada because of his role in committing crimes against humanity, the Canada Border Agency announced Monday.
The agency said Seyed Amin Hoseyni Bob Anari was put on a plane on May 31, shortly after a Federal Court judge denied his application for a stay of the deportation order.
"Mr. Anari was deemed to be inadmissible to Canada for committing crimes against humanity, and was ordered deported," the agency said in a statement.
Immigration officials deemed Anari inadmissible because of his past with the notorious SepDah e PDasdDarDan, which critics say has brutally enforced the Arab nation’s strict Islamic theocracy. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad himself is a former Revolutionary Guard.
Anari arrived in Canada in 2004, settling in the Vancouver region.
The Immigration and Refugee Board’s refugee protection division rejected his claim in June 2007, finding that "as a member of the Revolutionary Guard he was complicit in crimes against humanity," and therefore ineligible for refugee protection.
His application for judicial review of that decision was denied that December, and the following August Anari had a hearing for a pre-removal risk assessment, at his request, to determine whether he faced unacceptable risk upon his return to Iran.
"He alleges that upon return to Iran, he will be immediately arrested, interrogated, tortured and possibly executed," Federal Court Judge Yvon Pinard noted in a May 30 ruling.
But immigration officials didn’t agree, and the Federal Court upheld that decision.
"The PRRA (pre-removal risk assessment) officer concluded that, while it was possible the applicant would face mistreatment upon return to Iran, he was not likely to face a risk of torture, risk to life or cruel and unusual treatment," Pinard wrote in the ruling that cleared the way for Anari’s deportation.
Pinard denied Anari’s request for a stay of his deportation order, ending a five-year fight to remain in Canada.
The border agency said Anari was put on a plane on May 31.
"The CBSA places highest priority on removal cases involving national security, organized crime, crimes against humanity and criminals," said the statement from Canada Border Services.
"The agency remains committed to ensuring that Canada is not a safe haven for individuals who were involved in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, regardless of when or where they were committed."
Last week, a former KGB employee who was ordered deported because his Soviet past made him inadmissible took refuge in Vancouver church to avoid deportation.
Link:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/1126362.html