I find it interesting that it took five years to get this individual deported despite the fact that the various tribunals found that he committed crimes against humanity. It is also noteworthy that he was not in custody, and that he was already denied asylum in Belgium. This is the "game" they play: passage of time to try to defeat the system...but it did not work this time, although it does work in many others.
Court upholds deportation of former Iranian Guard
Adrian Humphreys, National Post
A former member of Iran's Revolutionary Guard has been deported from Canada for crimes against humanity after an emergency sitting of the Federal Court upheld the role of Tehran's state security force in human rights abuses and atrocities ahead of this week's presidential elections.
The decision to deny refugee protection to Seyed Amin Hoseyni Bob Anari because of complicity in atrocities as well as the direct condemnation of the guard's use of torture, secret jails and violence has now withheld three rounds of legal scrutiny in Canada. After a five-year fight to remain here, Mr. Anari was deported to Tehran within hours of the court's denial of his request for an emergency stay proceeding.
His lawyers argued he would be imprisoned, tortured and possibly executed in Iran for his desertion.
He arrived in Tehran on the brink of an unusually acrimonious election campaign that pits President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, himself a former guardsman, against several rivals, including Mohsen Rezai, who commanded the Revolutionary Guard for 16 years.
The branding of the guard as an organization involved in crimes against humanity effectively makes its leadership suspected war criminals under Canadian law.
Mr. Anari, 31, came to Canada in 2004 after an unsuccessful bid for refugee status in Belgium, according to documents filed in court. He settled in Vancouver with his common-law wife, worked as a sales clerk at Future Shop and made a fresh claim for refugee protection in Canada. During his hearing with the Immigration and Refugee Board, Mr. Anari admitted he was a part-time member of the guard while studying at university.
He also admitted the organization had carried out human rights abuses, including beatings and arrests of reformist students who participated in protests in the summer of 1999.
The guard, also known by its Persian name Pasdaran, operated secret prisons where detainees were subjected to inhumane treatment and torture, the refugee board ruled in 2007, concluding: "There were serious reasons for considering that the Pasdaran, and its individual members, had committed crimes against humanity."
A lawyer for Mr. Anari has said his client was ordered to infiltrate a political protest at the University of Tehran and report on the dissidents involved, but he refused to identify any participants, provoking retribution from his colleagues and forcing him to flee the country. Lawyers for Mr. Anari could not be reached over the weekend for comment.
The refugee board rejected Mr. Anari's claim for refugee status in June, 2007.
Under the United Nations convention on refugees, anyone committing a war crime or crime against humanity is not eligible for refugee protection. His appeal of that decision to the Federal Court was denied six months later.
He then applied for a pre-removal risk assessment, an appraisal by immigration officials designed to prevent people being sent to a country where they would be in serious danger. In October, 2008, his assessment concluded that, while it was possible he would face mistreatment back in Iran, he was not likely to face torture, risk to life or cruel and unusual treatment.
The risk assessment officer noted that he is unlikely to be of concern to the Iranian government because his lack of political dissent; he was not a high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Guard but merely a "part-time member" while at university.
"I note that the evidence does not support that the applicant is suspected by the security services of being involved in serious crimes or high-level anti-regime political activity," the risk assessment concluded.
In court, Mr. Anari argued he might be forced to "rejoin" the Revolutionary Guard and being forced to participate in an organization that has been accused of committing crimes against humanity would, in and of itself, be cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.
Federal Court Judge Yvon Pinard disagreed, noting Mr.
Anari was not a conscientious objector and was already found to have been a volunteer member of the organization and complicit in crimes against humanity.
Mr. Anari's appeal of his risk assessment was denied in court on May 20. With his deportation looming, Mr. Anari made a last-ditch appeal in court, prompting a special sitting of the Federal Court in Vancouver on Saturday, May 30, to review his departure order scheduled for the following day.
After a flurry of paperwork and arguments lasting more than an hour, Justice Russel Zinn dismissed Mr. Anari's motion to delay his removal.
The next morning he was sent back to Iran, said Faith St. John, spokeswoman for Canada Border Services Agency.
"Mr. Anari was removed. He was an admitted member of the Revolutionary Guard in Iran and deemed inadmissible to Canada for committing crimes against humanity," Ms. St. John said.
"Canada is not a safe haven for individuals who are involved in war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide regardless of where or when they were committed," she said.
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