“They know the view from my apartment. They said it was a school. That I have three cats. They knew the friends who came to my house,” said Maryam Shafipour, an Iranian activist who now lives in Canada and has been speaking out against the regime despite risks. Last year, members of Guard of the Islamic Revolution — a branch of Iran’s forces designated as a terrorist organization in the U.S. — took that information about her life to her sister in Iran, Shafipour said, and used it to try to threaten her family and lure her back to the country . “After that I just cut off all my friends because I’m really scared,” Shafipour said. “I’m just isolated now.” Shafipour has reason to be afraid. He once spent two months in solitary confinement in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison for “spreading propaganda against the system” — the same prison where Mahsa Amini was held. Amini’s arrest on September 13, reportedly for not adhering to Iran’s strict dress code, and death in custody sparked months of large-scale protests inside and outside Iran. Last week, for the first time, CSIS confirmed it was investigating “several threats to life emanating from the Islamic Republic of Iran.” But Shafipour and other activists told CBC News they have had no help from Canadian police or government officials and don’t feel the threat here is being taken seriously. Bahr Abdul Razzak, left, checks Maryam Shafipour’s phone for spyware at Citizen Lab on Nov. 2, 2022. Her phone has not been hacked, but Citizen Lab found nearly 35 attempts to change her Instagram password and 18 attempts to trick her into changing Gmail Credentials. (Turgut Yeter/ CBC)
Digital espionage concerns
Shafipour is not the only one being watched in Canada. In 2021, the FBI released details of a kidnapping plan Iranian-American activist Masih Alinejad from her home in New York — part of this report revealed plans to kidnap three unnamed people here in Canada. The Islamic Republic of Iran’s government even hired private investigators in Brooklyn, New York, and Canada to spy on Alinejad and four other dissidents, according to court documents. Shafipour is worried that the Iranian government has hacked her phone. Curious if there was indeed spyware on her phone, Shafipour sat down with experts at Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity lab in Toronto that helps human rights activists under the threat of digital espionage. WATCHES | “Maybe it’s already here,” says activist Maryam Shafipour:
Activist Maryam Shafipour describes how she was watched
Shafipour, who has been in Canada since 2016, has limited contact with her sister and friends since learning of the surveillance. She said she was grateful she was taken seriously, adding that Canadian authorities had not looked into her case at all. “We know that they [Islamic Republic] they have extensive technologies that allow them to break into people’s personal cell phones, know where they are, who they’re communicating with,” said Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab. “It’s actually common for people in your situation to have agents or people sympathetic to the government within Canada following them around, maybe trying to intimidate them,” he said.
Threatening texts
It’s not just high-profile activists like Shafipour and Alinejad who feel at risk. others without a public profile believe they are no longer safe to publicly criticize the regime. Two people spoke to CBC News on the promise of anonymity because of fears for their safety and the safety of their families back in Iran. They say they have received threatening calls and a text message to cell phone numbers that were supposed to be private. The messages warned them to stop posting on social media and speak out about Iran. “I have so many family members living in Iran and I love them. I don’t want anything to happen to them,” said the woman who received a message in Farsi. The text was identical to another sent to activists and journalists in Iran several years ago. He warned her that talking to the “enemy” abroad via “email… or other communication” was criminal and would lead to prosecution, also stating that “It is vital that you log out and this SMS is the last security warning”. The other person, a young man, received a series of phone calls from blocked and local Canadian numbers asking why he had posted negatively about Iran on social media — using accounts that were private. “He repeated several times and I was terrified and blocked the call,” the man said. WATCHES | They received threats, but the police told them they couldn’t help:
Iranian Canadians say they tried to get help from police after receiving threats
Two Iranian-Canadians, who remain anonymous, say they went to police with concerns after receiving threatening calls and a text message and were told by police there was nothing they could do. Even scarier, the answering machine addressed him by name. He doesn’t know how he or his number was found. Both feel they have been watched at protests with people in the crowd using their phones to take pictures of their faces. They believe the information is then sent to the Iranian government. “I feel terrified,” the man added. These two young Iranian Canadians went to the police and said they couldn’t pass the reception. They claim they were told no one could help them. “I feel like the police, whether in Toronto or anywhere in Canada … you wait until someone dies and then they do something,” one of them said.
CSIS investigates ‘multiple threats’
The CBC spoke to others who have had similar stories and who say they have gone to the police, the RCMP and even CSIS with no response. When asked by CBC News about the increase in Iranian dissidents receiving threats in Canada, the RCMP said in a statement they believe the problem is “intensifying” but said they cannot quantify it as they believe it is still underreported. CSIS has acknowledged it is monitoring the situation, first announcing last Friday that it was investigating “several threats to life emanating from the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Members of the Iranian community gather in Toronto to protest the death of Mahsa Amini, in this photo from September. (Darek Zdzienicki/CBC) “Canadians don’t realize how serious this issue is,” said Ardeshir Zarezadeh. Zarezadeh, an Iranian-Canadian who once spent two years in solitary confinement in an Iranian prison, believes the regime’s presence in Canada is growing, causing distress and confusion in his community. “They [the Iranian regime and its affiliates] they have businesses here. NGOs. Homes. They are everywhere. And everyone knows it,” he said. The RCMP never responded to my messages. What is the government’s fault? Why don’t they take action? – Ardeshir Zarezadeh Zarezadeh said two years ago, a member of the regime showed up at his Toronto law offices after calling to make an appointment from a public phone. He was denied a date, but suddenly showed up anyway, catching Zarezadeh in the lobby. “He asked to speak to me about my legal services, I told him I was in a hurry, but I immediately felt nervous,” Zarezadeh said. Zarezadeh said he quickly ended the conversation saying he had to leave and the man left. “I met so many intelligence officers when I was in Iran. I was arrested 12 times. So many of them interrogated me, so I know how they act, talk, react.” Ardeshir Zarezadeh at his law office on November 22, 2022, where he had previously come face-to-face with an Islamic Republic agent known to the FBI. (Ousama Farag/CBC) He immediately contacted the FBI who confirmed that the visitor was a known threat and a top regime operative and warned him to be very careful. He says that after calls to the RCMP about the matter, he has not been followed up. “The RCMP never responded to my messages. What is the government’s fault? Why doesn’t he take action? Zarezadeh has taken matters into his own hands. He is compiling a list of names and addresses of known regime associates here in Canada and is prepared to make that list public as well as share it with the government and other intelligence agencies. “I don’t feel safe in Canada. I watch my back all the time, I bring people with me wherever I go because who knows any day now I could get a knife in my back,” Zarezadeh said. CBC News asked the federal public safety minister about the lack of police response. We are still waiting for a response.
