Iran roads director brought before Canada’s refugee board for deportation hearing

A former director general in Iran’s roads ministry appeared before the Immigration and Refugee Board on Thursday as Canadian officials continued efforts to expel top-ranking regime members from the country.

Afshin Pirnoon is one of 20 alleged senior Iranian officials caught living in Canada since Ottawa launched a crackdown against them in 2022 due to their involvement in a regime that flouts human rights and supports terrorism.

The 49-year-old, who said he was working as an Uber driver, spoke through a Farsi interpreter as he faced questions about his role in the repressive Iranian government before he arrived in Canada in 2022 and filed a refugee claim.

The Canada Border Services Agency has alleged that as director general of Iran’s Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization, Pirnoon was a high-ranking official in the service of the Islamic Republic.

He is therefore not allowed in Canada and should be deported, the CBSA has claimed. The hearing before the refugee board was to determine whether the CBSA had a reasonable case against him.

Photos on Iranian government and news websites show Pirnoon at events alongside political and religious leaders. He can also be seen attending official meetings, giving interviews and delivering speeches.

A civil engineer with a master’s degree, Pirnoon worked for the Iranian government for 22 years. Until 2022. he was employed by the branch of Ministry of Roads and Urban Development responsible for road safety.

But he denied he had any decision-making authority or influence, and said that as a road safety expert he had saved “so many lives.” He added that working for a government did not mean supporting it.

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“Whatever I’ve done in my life so far was to safeguard the human beings’ life,” he said. “And since I started to live here I tried my best to behave as a very good citizen for the Canadian society.”

A decision on his case is not expected until later in the year.

The Canadian government announced in 2022 that it had banned senior Iranian officials from the country and that those already here would be deported.

The measure was a response to the brutal suppression of women’s rights demonstrations in Tehran as well as Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Yemeni’s Houthis.

Since the federal government stepped up pressure on Tehran, immigration enforcement officers have opened investigations into dozens of alleged regime officials believed to have resettled in Canada.

But so far only two hearings have resulted in deportation orders, and only one former regime official has been sent back to Iran, although the CBSA has said that several others had left voluntarily.

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca