Mohamed Fahmy: Carney Liberals stand against human rights at United Nations

The symbol of the United Nations is displayed on the main gate outside UN headquarters, Feb. 24, 2022, in New York. Photo by John Minchillo /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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KUWAIT CITY — Canada backing the Islamic Republic of Iran to the U.N. Committee for Programme and Coordination—which helps shape policy on women’s rights, terrorism prevention, and human rights contradicts Ottawa’s foreign policy.

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One must ask: Why did Canada lend its voice to the 54-member United Nations Economic and Social Council joining nations such as France, Germany, Holland, and the U.K. despite maintaining a firm stance against Iran’s appalling human rights records both within its borders and beyond?

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The shocking move is underscored by Ottawa’s own policies and threatens the legitimacy of UN bodies meant to protect rights. Canada has imposed recent sanctions on Tehran and designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, highlighting a stark contradiction between its stated principles and its actions on the international stage.

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In practical terms, Iran’s presence is not symbolic — it carries real weight. As a member of the UN’s committee, it will help review strategic plans, shape program priorities, and influence how resources are allocated across the system, including in sensitive areas such as human rights and gender-based violence.

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Canada has designated Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis as terrorist organizations — militant groups historically funded, armed, and trained by Iran, and central to its network of regional proxies. I for one, struggle to realize how Iranian UN representatives will congregate on a roundtable to discuss disarmament and terrorism prevention — a core role of the committee.

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Carney’s government recognizes Iran’s longstanding practice of hostage diplomacy against Westerners, including a long list of dual Iranian-Canadian citizens who have been jailed in the past decades on fabricated charges and used as bargaining chips for political gain.

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To name just a few Canadians, consider the cases of professor Homa Hoodfar, who endured harrowing conditions during her 121-day detention in 2016, and Saeed Malekpour, who spent 11 years in an Iranian prison before escaping through a third country with the help of his sister, Maryam — a courageous woman I interviewed numerous times during her campaign to free her brother, until he reached British Columbia safely.

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Let’s not forget those who never made it back, including Iranian-Canadian environmentalist Kavous Seyed-Emami, who was jailed on baseless espionage charges and died in suspicious circumstances in Evin prison, and photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who was arrested in June 2003 for photographing families of detainees outside Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison. She died weeks later inside those same prison walls from a brain hemorrhage following a skull injury allegedly caused by beatings, according to official Iranian accounts. Yet despite the gravity of the allegations, Iran has never held anyone accountable for her rape and death.

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When the UN committee convenes in May, it must, but won’t given Iran’s involvement, demand the immediate release of Ahmadreza Djalali, an Iranian-Swedish physician and renowned disaster medicine researcher who has served at several European universities. Arrested in April 2016 after effectively being lured to Iran to speak at the University of Tehran and Shiraz University, he was detained without explanation. Just two weeks later, he was charged with espionage and collaboration with Israel, based on an alleged letter from his spouse — hardly the foundation for a just conviction.