An alleged senior member of the Iranian regime who has been living in Canada has lost his attempt to ban the public from his deportation hearing.
In a ruling handed down in Toronto on Tuesday, the Immigration and Refugee Board denied Abbas Omidi’s request for closed-door proceedings.
The decision said that “hiding Mr. Omidi’s identity would have a strong deleterious/negative effect on the public’s interest in the open court process.”
Global News reported on Omidi’s case last month but was not permitted to name him because of a publication ban imposed by the Refugee Board.
However, Global News fought the decision, and the Refugee Board has now reversed the restrictions in a ruling that said Omidi had not shown he would face any danger.
“I am unable to find sufficient credible evidence that establishes Mr. Omidi and his family face a real and substantial risk of harm if Mr. Omidi’s identity is disclosed in media reporting,” the decision said.
“I do not find Mr. Omidi’s application satisfies the requirement that the openness of the proceedings poses a serious risk to an important public interest.”
Omidi is one of 28 suspected high-level officials of Iran’s repressive government who have been caught during an immigration crackdown that began in 2022.
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He is the latest to be publicly identified.
The Canada Border Services Agency wants to expel him on the grounds that he served in a senior capacity in his country’s Islamic regime.
He had appeared for a deportation hearing on Feb. 4, but instead argued the Refugee Board should hold the proceedings behind closed doors.
To support his bid for a closed door hearing, he submitted news articles, including one about the recent disappearance of B.C. anti-regime activist Masood Masjoody.
But the Refugee Board said the exhibits did “not provide credible evidence of a risk that is real and substantial.”
The decision noted that a letter submitted by the Iranian Canadian Legal Professionals had argued that “Iranian Canadians would be particularly affected by non-disclosure of Mr. Omidi’s name.”
“For Iranian Canadians who fled persecution by the Iranian regime, the desire to know who among them in their community were high ranking officials of the regime is not a matter of curiosity,” it said.
“I find that this information has a significant impact on their personal security, as there are inherent physical and emotional safety risks to associating with people directly linked to their own persecution.”
The Canadian government barred senior Iranian officials from the country after Tehran crushed women’s rights protests that erupted over the killing of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for showing her hair.
The sanctions took on new urgency after anti-government protests that began in December were brutally suppressed by regime forces, which killed thousands.
It was unclear what impact the war on Iran that began on Feb. 28 could have on Ottawa’s efforts to expel past and present regime members, who critics say have been using Canada as a safe haven.
Even before the war started, immigration enforcement officers were struggling to persuade the Refugee Board to remove the officials from Canada.
The IRB has allowed five of the alleged officials to stay in Canada, while only one has been deported, and others are in the queue for hearings.
Most of the officials have had their hearings heard in secrecy. Only five deportation cases have been public, including Omidi’s.
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