Canada extends ban on senior Iranian officials back to 2003

The federal government is expanding a measure that bans tens of thousands of Iranian officials from entering Canada. 

The change, announced Sunday, means any senior official who served in the Iranian government at any time since June 23, 2003 is now inadmissible to Canada. 

Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was arrested on that date in Tehran, and died in hospital almost three weeks later after being tortured and raped.

Ottawa first labelled the Iranian government as a regime engaging in terrorism and systematic or gross human rights violations in November 2022, and denied entry to senior officials who’d served in the government since Nov. 15, 2019. 

Current and former officials present in Canada could also lose their temporary or permanent resident status and could be removed from the country. 

In June, the government listed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization under the Criminal Code, following years of pressure from Iranian Canadians and opposition parties. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024