‘Far worse than you can imagine’: How Iran’s regime has ‘spread its tentacles’ in Canada
Hamed Esmaeilion has to watch his back wherever he goes — unable to escape the oppressive and violent regime that rules his homeland of Iran, even when he’s in Canada.
When he first arrived in 2010 with his wife Parisa and daughter Reera, Esmaeilion thought he had come to the safest country in the world.
“But it’s not,” he says.
His wife and daughter were among 176 people killed, including 55 Canadian citizens, when the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 on Jan. 8, 2020. That shattered any illusions the Ontario man had that his family would live happily ever after in Canada.
“Where is my wife and my daughter now? They’re buried in the cemetery in Richmond Hill, just because of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” says Esmaeilion, who has channelled his profound grief into action, demanding answers and accountability for the loss of his loved ones.
Soon, the watchful eyes of the regime focused on him in Canada. He started to get threats on social media, and even more chilling, multiple phone calls from the same person.
“The last conversation I had with that guy, he was like, let’s talk about the last moments of your wife and your daughter.”
He says the worst part is, he was told police resources are stretched too thin to protect him.
“I had (a) conversation with RCMP officers in January and I said, do you have any recommendations for me because I see the threats are going on, especially social media, and they said to me that they have no resources. They’re busy with Ukraine, Russia, China.”
As revealed during a lengthy investigation by Global News’ current affairs program The New Reality, the threats against Esmaeilion are not unusual for critics of the Islamic Republic,
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