Ottawa: Canadian authorities recently foiled an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister who has been a strong critic of Tehran, Cotler\u2019s organization said Monday.
\nThe 84-year-old was justice minister and attorney general from 2003 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2015 but has remained active with many associations that campaign for human rights around the world.
\nThe Globe and Mail newspaper reported that he was informed on October 26 that he faced an imminent threat \u2014 within 48 hours \u2014 of assassination from Iranian agents.
\nAuthorities tracked two suspects in the plot, the paper said, citing an unnamed source.
\nIn an email to AFP, the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, where Cotler is international chair, confirmed the Globe and Mail report.
\nCotler \u201chas no knowledge or details regarding any arrests made,\u201d said Brandon Golfman, an organization spokesman.
\nTehran late on Monday denied what it described as \u201cthe claim of Canadian media that Iran tried to assassinate a Canadian person,\u201d the official IRNA news agency reported, citing Issa Kameli, the director general for the Americas at the foreign ministry.
\nThe Iranian diplomat denounced the report as \u201cridiculous storytelling and in line with the misinformation campaign against Iran.\u201d
\nA spokesperson for Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc declined to comment, telling AFP: \u201cWe cannot comment on, nor confirm specific RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) operations due to security reasons.\u201d
\nAnother senior government minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, called the plot \u201cvery concerning.\u201d
\nJean-Yves Duclos, the government\u2019s senior minister in Quebec province, where Cotler lives, said it was likely \u201cvery difficult for (Cotler), in particular, and his family and friends to hear\u201d about it.
\nThe House of Commons, meanwhile, passed a unanimous motion praising Cotler\u2019s work in defense of human rights and \u201ccondemning the death threats against him orchestrated by agents of a foreign regime.\u201d
\nCotler had already been receiving police protection for more than a year after the October 7, 2023 attack in Israel by Hamas gunmen.
\nCotler, who is Jewish and a strong backer of Israel, has advocated globally to have Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps listed as a terrorist entity.
\nHis name reportedly also came up in an FBI probe of a 2022 Iranian murder-for-hire operation in New York that targeted American human rights activist Masih Alinejad.
\nOttawa, which severed diplomatic ties with Iran more than a decade ago, listed the Revolutionary Guard as a banned terror group in June.
\nIt said at the time that Iranian authorities displayed a consistent \u201cdisregard for human rights both inside and outside of Iran, as well as a willingness to destabilize the international rules-based order.\u201d
\nAs a lawyer, Cotler also represented Iranian political prisoners and dissidents.
\nHis daughter, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, is an Israeli politician and diplomat who previously served as a member of Israel\u2019s parliament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ottawa: Canadian authorities recently foiled an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister who has been a strong critic of Tehran, Cotler\u2019s organization said Monday. The 84-year-old was justice minister and attorney general from 2003 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2015 but has remained active with many associations that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444419,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-444405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n