Canadian authorities last week foiled an assassination attempt targeting former Minister of Justice and human rights defender Irwin Cotler that was allegedly orchestrated by Iran, this lawyer’s organization explained on Monday. Confirming information from the English-language newspaper The Globe and Mail, the Raoul Wallenberg Center, of which Irwin Cotler is president, confirmed having been informed at the end of October of imminent threats to his life from Iranian agents.
Tehran singled out
However, he has “no information or details regarding possible arrests,” said Brandon Golfman, spokesperson for the organization, in an email to AFP. Tehran denied Monday evening “the Canadian media’s claim that Iran attempted to assassinate a Canadian,” the official IRNA news agency reported, citing Issa Kameli, director for the Americas at the Iranian Foreign Ministry. . The Iranian diplomat denounced “a ridiculous story, in line with the disinformation campaign waged against Iran.”
This 84-year-old Jewish lawyer, supporter of Israel, was Minister of Justice from 2003 to 2006. He attracted the ire of the regime Tehran because of its years-long campaign to have the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, placed by Canada on its list of terrorist entities. Irwin Cotler retired from political life in 2015 but remained very active with numerous associations campaigning for human rights around the world.
He had already benefited from police protection for a little over a year following the attacks of October 7, 2023 in Israel, perpetrated by Hamas commandos infiltrated from the neighboring Gaza Strip. According to the Globe and Mail, Irwin Cotler’s name also appeared in an investigation in the United States surrounding the attempted assassination of Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist and dissident in New York in 2022. Interviewed by AFP , a spokesperson for the Minister of Public Security declined to comment.
But the Canadian Parliament unanimously adopted on Monday a motion saluting the work of Irwin Cotler and condemning “the death threats against him orchestrated by agents of a foreign regime”. Ottawa, which broke diplomatic relations with Iran more than ten years ago, placed the Revolutionary Guards on its blacklist in June, accusing the Islamic regime of showing “disdain for human rights” and of wanting to “destabilize the international order”. Irwin Cotler’s daughter, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, is an Israeli politician and diplomat who served as a member of the Israeli parliament.
Questions for the interview:
1. Mr. Cotler, can you tell us about your experience as a former Minister of Justice and how it has shaped your current work in human rights advocacy?
2. How have you been involved in the ongoing efforts to have the Revolutionary Guards designated as a terrorist entity in Canada, and what motivated you to take on this cause?
3. Can you share any insights into the specific threats you received from Iranian agents and the measures taken to thwart the assassination attempt?
4. What do you make of Iran’s denial of the attempted assassination, and how does it fit into the broader context of human rights abuses in the country?
5. As a prominent member of the Jewish and Israeli communities, how have these identities informed your work and the challenges you’ve faced along the way?
6. Ms. Cotler-Wunsh, can you discuss your own political career and how it intersects with your father’s human rights activism?
7. How did the October 2023 attacks in Israel shape your family’s responses to these recent threats and security concerns?
8. Can you speak to the international community’s role in holding Iran accountable for its human rights violations and support for terrorism?
9. As seen in the unanimous approval of a motion by the Canadian Parliament, what are your hopes for future collaborations and actions to protect human rights defenders like yourself from foreign threats?
