Former Liberal Attorney General Irwin Cotler says the alleged Iranian plot to assassinate him should serve as a “wake-up call” for democracies around the world to combat transnational repression and violence by Iran and other hostile actors.
In an interview with Global News, Cutler, a vocal critic of the Iranian regime, said he was informed by his RCMP security detail late last month that they had received “information of an imminent assassination attempt within the next 48 hours” while he was in Montreal. To attend a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of his law class at McGill University.
“My security was tightened for the next 48 hours,” he said. He added that his security measures had been reduced from the “highest level” several days ago, although it was not clear to him what had changed.
“Then I read – I wasn’t told – and then I read that maybe two suspects have been arrested.”
The Globe and Mail was the first to report on the alleged plot against Cotler on Monday, and a source said law enforcement was aware of the presence of two suspects, but it was not clear whether they had been arrested or fled the country. . The report said that Kotler was informed last week that the threat against him had “significantly decreased.”
Cutler has been under 24-hour RCMP protection since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, which receives support from Iran. He told Global News that he was first informed of an “imminent and lethal threat to my life” upon arriving in Montreal from a trip to Washington, D.C., with his wife in November 2023, and his security detail began “immediately” after that.
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“The protection I received was perfect,” he said.
“They accompany me wherever I go. Even if I go to the barber shop or if I go for medical treatment under dialysis, they are with me all the time.
When he later learned that the threat came from Iran, he said he was not surprised, given his years-long advocacy for Iranian human rights and criticism of the Iranian regime.
Pressure began on the international community 15 years ago to list the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist entity. The Canadian government did so in June, after months of mounting political pressure.
Kotler said he “noticed a pattern” of increasing alleged assassination plots against Iranian dissidents and Western political critics of the regime on foreign soil, along with the suppression of dissent at home, including the execution and kidnapping of dual nationals and their return to Iran.
He said: “There is indeed a combination of intense internal repression, intense transnational repression, the phenomenon of assassinations as part of this transnational repression, and the urgent and urgent need for the community of democracies to hold the Iranian regime accountable.”
He added: “At the same time, we express our support and solidarity with the Iranian people who are under increasing attack.”
US intelligence agencies have witnessed an increase in Iranian death threats Against US President-elect Donald Trump during his campaign this year, the US Department of Justice has charged several alleged hit men who prosecutors say were commissioned to carry out Iranian plots to kill Trump.
Earlier this month, an unsealed US indictment revealed that two men were recruited by an IRGC contact to follow and kill prominent Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, who has been the subject of several Iranian murder-for-hire plots foiled by law enforcement. . The indictment alleged that the same IRGC contact was charged with planning an assassination plot against Trump before the US elections.
Kotler said the alleged plots against Alinejad, whom he described as a friend and colleague, are part of a pattern of increasing repression against Iran’s critics.
Trump took a hard line against Iran and angered the regime after his first administration carried out a strike that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander Qasem Soleimani in early 2020.
Kotler said he expects Trump to continue this approach when he returns to the White House next year, though he noted that the next president is “unpredictable.”
He said: “If the past serves as prologue, we may again witness intensified sanctions on the Iranian regime, and I believe we will find an intensified response to hold the Iranian regime accountable.”
He hopes Canada and other countries will follow suit and make transnational repression and assassinations a top priority at next year’s G7 summit, which Canada is hosting.
Canada faces increasing allegations of foreign interference not only from Iran but also from China, Russia and India. The government has been vocal about alleged ties between New Delhi and Indian consular officials in Canada and recent murder-for-hire plots against Sikh nationalists on Canadian soil, including the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nigar last year in British Columbia.
Iran has been accused of hiring Hells Angels members in Canada to carry out killings, and immigration officials have found that 16 senior members of the Iranian regime are living illegally in Canada so far.
Kotler called for the establishment of a separate independent government agency to combat cases of foreign interference and repression abroad.
“I see this as a phenomenon that is not related to me personally, but rather to the greater threat of transnational repression and assassinations,” he said.
“This should be seen as a wake-up call to the community of democracies as this represents a direct threat to our security, democracy and human rights.”
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