An Iranian human rights activist has unleashed a furious criticism of a Liberal MP with a long history of sympathy for the Iranian regime.
Human rights activist Heshmat Alavi took to Twitter on Wednesday to expose and accuse MP Majid Jowhari (Liberal – Richmond Hill) of being an apologist for the terrorist regime in Iran.
“A Liberal MP in Canada known for his pro-#Iran regime views & policies, is up for reelection. This thread sheds light on Jowhari being a Tehran apologist/lobbyist,” Alavi wrote.
Alavi gave 15 examples of Jowhari’s behaviour which justify his accusation.
While Iran cracks down on human rights, Jowhari called the Iranian regime a “brave nation” with an “elected government” — a tough pill to swallow for Iranian dissidents and refugees in Canada who’ve been brutally punished by the authoritarian Islamist dictatorship.
“As our government is closely monitoring the ongoing protests in Iran; it is my sincere hope that the brave nation of #Iran have the opportunity to air their legitimate financial, social and political concerns with the support of their elected government, in a secure environment and without the fear of persecution,” Jowhari Tweeted in 2018.
In 2016 Jowhari sponsored petition e-553, which called upon the Canadian government to reopen its embassy in Iran “as a matter of utmost importance.”
Jowhari claimed that he heard from many that Canada should reopen its embassy in Tehran.
“What I’m hearing is a lot of people are saying the first step should be opening of the consular section of the embassy,” he said.
His constituents appeared to have disagreed. Fifteen Iranian-Canadians who live in Jowhari’s riding wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressing their concerns about Jowhari’s “moral competence.”
Iran, an Islamist state government ruled by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has a long record of human rights abuse.
Earlier this year a human rights lawyer was sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes for allegedly “spreading propaganda” and insulting Iran’s supreme leader.
Over 7,000 people were arrested for political crimes in Iran in 2018 alone. In the same year two teenagers were flogged and executed in secret after a rigged trial.
Jowhari also came under fire also for meeting with an Iranian regime delegation around the same time as he put forward petition E-553. He claims that it was just a friendly meeting with the mullahs to discuss Canada-Iran relations.
“It just means we are sitting at the same table and working on understanding the issues and we as Canadians have serious concerns. If we don’t tell them, who will?”
While Jowhari appears to not be concerned with his closeness to Iran, Alavi says that his actions amount to lobbying for the Islamist regime.
“At the end of the day, this thread is aimed at providing information on the true nature of @MajidJowhari as an Iran apologist/lobbyist that should not be reelected into the Canadian Parliament.”
