A former govt in Tehran’s state oil firm has been barred from getting into Canada on the grounds he was a senior member of the Iranian regime.
In a ruling handed down on Thursday, the Federal Courtroom upheld the federal government’s choice to disclaim entry to Mohammadreza Mazloumiaboukheili.
The 64-year-old had utilized for a visa to go to his son in Ontario, nevertheless it was refused on the grounds he was a part of a regime engaged in terrorism and rights abuses.
The courtroom ruling, which dismissed his enchantment, marks successful for the Canadian authorities’s efforts to maintain Iranian officers in another country.
Nearly three years in the past, the federal government of then-prime minister Justin Trudeau banned top-ranking members of Iran’s abusive regime from Canada.
Since then, the Canada Border Companies Company has struggled to deport the roughly two dozen suspected officers discovered dwelling within the nation.
Just one has been eliminated to Iran, and the Immigration Refugee Board has declined to situation deportation orders in 4 extra circumstances.
However immigration authorities have managed to stop virtually 200 suspected high-ranking Iranian regime members from getting into Canada within the first place.
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Mazloumiaboukheili is the newest to have his visa rejected in courtroom, with the decide dismissing his complaints concerning the dealing with of his case as “baseless.”
Though he has visited Canada twice earlier than, that was earlier than Ottawa introduced in its coverage focusing on these serving within the prime echelons of the Islamic Republic.
His newest software was met with a letter that thanked him for his “curiosity in coming to Canada” however suggested him he was inadmissible because of his authorities position.
In keeping with authorities information obtained by International Information, Mazloumiaboukheili was director of operations on the Nationwide Iranian Oil Merchandise Distribution Firm.
The oil firm, the place Mazloumiaboukheili labored for a decade, is owned by the Iranian authorities and studies to the deputy minister of Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum.
Oil is a key income supply for Iran, which sponsors terror teams Hamas, Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis, and has offered drones for Russia’s warfare in Ukraine.
The theocracy additionally targets critics in Canada, amongst them activists, journalists and former MP Irwin Cotler, whom police have warned of an assassination plot.
Whereas Mazloumiaboukheili argued he was merely an organization “center supervisor,” the CBSA stated he was solely two ranks faraway from the minister.
Mazloumiaboukheili wrote in an affidavit that he was shocked to obtain a letter advising him his visa was cancelled, and had advised his attorneys to enchantment.
However the courtroom discovered “no error” within the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada officer’s dealing with of his failed visa software.
“The officer’s choice is cheap, each in its reasoning and relating to the proof of the applicant’s position as an govt in a regime that engages or has engaged in terrorist actions and systematic or gross human rights violations,” the decide wrote.
“The applicant’s submissions that the officer made speculative assumptions or unjustified conclusions is meritless, as are the various different submissions the applicant made attacking the choice.”
Contacted by e mail, Mazloumiaboukheili didn’t reply to a request for remark by deadline.
Iranian-Canadians have lengthy demanded higher immigration safety screening to stop Iranian regime members from utilizing Canada as a protected haven.
As of Sept. 4, 2025, 23 Iranians believed to have served in senior roles within the regime have been discovered dwelling in Canada, based on authorities figures.
However solely three deportation orders have been issued up to now, and 4 circumstances have did not win the approval of the Immigration and Refugee Board.
On Monday, International Information reported the IRB had declined to approve the deportation of Afshin Pirnoon, the previous director of Iran’s roads division.
Nonetheless, authorities figures additionally present that the IRCC has cancelled 198 visas below the sanctions.
As lately as Sept. 18, the company despatched a letter to an Iranian visa applicant advising him he is probably not allowed in Canada as a former senior regime member.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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