One of Canada’s most recognizable Iranian-born activists says Iran’s embassy in Ottawa should be shut down amid allegations the Islamic regime is using its office here to recruit Iranian-Canadians to serve Tehran’s interests.
“[The embassy] has no purpose here,” said Nazanin Afshin-Jam, a human rights activist who fled Iran in 1979 after her father was imprisoned and tortured. “The embassy in Ottawa sometimes uses cultural events as an excuse to spread their own propaganda.”
Ms. Afshin-Jam, who is married to Defence Minister Peter MacKay, said she believes embassy officials attended and recorded her March 28 appearance at an Advocates for Civil Liberties conference in Toronto. She said she and her relatives have over the years received death threats — from whom, she is not sure — saying that if she does not stop speaking out against the Iranian regime, “we’re going to come get you.”
