OTTAWA: Canadian authorities recently foiled an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister who has been a strong critic of Tehran, Cotler’s organization said Monday.
The 84-year-old was justice minister and attorney general from 2003 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2015 but has remained active with many associations that campaign for human rights around the world.
The Globe and Mail newspaper reported that he was informed on October 26 that he faced an imminent threat — within 48 hours — of assassination from Iranian agents.
Authorities tracked two suspects in the plot, the paper said, citing an unnamed source.
In an email to AFP, the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, where Cotler is international chair, confirmed the Globe and Mail report.
Cotler “has no knowledge or details regarding any arrests made,” said Brandon Golfman, an organization spokesman.
Tehran late on Monday denied what it described as “the claim of Canadian media that Iran tried to assassinate a Canadian person,” the official IRNA news agency reported, citing Issa Kameli, the director general for the Americas at the foreign ministry.
The Iranian diplomat denounced the report as “ridiculous storytelling and in line with the misinformation campaign against Iran.”
A spokesperson for Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc declined to comment, telling AFP: “We cannot comment on, nor confirm specific RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) operations due to security reasons.”
Another senior government minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, called the plot “very concerning.”
Jean-Yves Duclos, the government’s senior minister in Quebec province, where Cotler lives, said it was likely “very difficult for (Cotler), in particular, and his family and friends to hear” about it.
The House of Commons, meanwhile, passed a unanimous motion praising Cotler’s work in defense of human rights and “condemning the death threats against him orchestrated by agents of a foreign regime.”
Cotler has advocated globally to have Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps listed as a terrorist entity.
His name reportedly also came up in an FBI probe of a 2022 Iranian murder-for-hire operation in New York that targeted American human rights activist Masih Alinejad.
Ottawa, which severed diplomatic ties with Iran more than a decade ago, listed the Revolutionary Guard as a banned terror group in June.
It said at the time that Iranian authorities displayed a consistent “disregard for human rights both inside and outside of Iran, as well as a willingness to destabilize the international rules-based order.”
As a lawyer, Cotler also represented Iranian political prisoners and dissidents.
Canada foiled Iran plot to assassinate former minister
https://arab.news/va565
Canada foiled Iran plot to assassinate former minister
- The Globe and Mail newspaper reported that he was informed on October 26 that he faced an imminent threat
- The 84-year-old was justice minister and attorney general from 2003 to 2006
Thailand-Cambodia fighting rages on as Trump signals intent to intervene
- Clashes raged at more than a dozen locations along their 817-km border
- “I hate to say this one, named Cambodia-Thailand, and it started up today, and tomorrow I am going to have to make a phone call,” Trump said
BANGKOK/PHNOM PENH: Thailand and Cambodia traded accusations of targeting civilians in artillery and rocket attacks on Wednesday, as US President Donald Trump said he would try to intervene to stop the fighting and salvage a ceasefire he brokered earlier this year.
Clashes raged at more than a dozen locations along their 817-km (508-mile) border in some of the most intense fighting since a five-day battle in July, which Trump stopped with calls to both leaders to halt their worst conflict in recent history.
The Southeast Asian neighbors have blamed each other for the clashes that started on Monday.
’IT CANNOT BE AS SIMPLE AS PICKING UP THE PHONE’
Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania late on Tuesday said he would try to stop the renewed hostilities, after enumerating the conflicts he said he had helped stop, such as those between Pakistan and India, and Israel and Iran.
“I hate to say this one, named Cambodia-Thailand, and it started up today, and tomorrow I am going to have to make a phone call,” he said.
“Who else could say, ‘I’m going to make a phone call and stop a war of two very powerful countries, Thailand and Cambodia?’“
Thailand’s army has made clear it wants to cripple Cambodia’s military capabilities and Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Tuesday said operations would not stop.
He declined to comment on Wednesday on what the military’s end-game was. Asked about Trump’s remarks, he said the conflict was a matter between the two countries involved.
“Other national leaders may have good intentions in wanting peace,” Anutin told reporters. “It cannot be as simple as picking up the phone and calling. There must be proper appointment and agreed talking points. We still have time to prepare these issues if such discussions are to take place.”
Cambodian government spokesperson Pen Bona said Phnom Penh’s position was that it wanted only peace and had acted in self-defense. A top adviser to Cambodia’s prime minister has signalled the country was ready to negotiate.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who helped Trump broker the ceasefire, said he had spoken with leaders of Thailand and Cambodia on Tuesday and, though no definitive resolution was reached, he appreciated “the openness and willingness of both leaders to continue negotiations in order to ease tensions.”
ROCKETS, JETS AND DRONE-BOMBS
Thailand’s army said fighting took place on 16 different fronts on Wednesday, including both ends of the border. It reported an onslaught of BM-21 rockets fired by Cambodian forces, some of which it said landed near a hospital in Surin province, forcing the evacuation of patients and staff.
The army said Cambodian drones were being used to drop bombs and BM-21 rockets, and tanks were used at other border areas, including near the contested 11th Century Preah Vihear temple, a flashpoint for previous diplomatic and military conflicts.
Cambodia’s military said Thailand used artillery fire and armed drones and fired mortars into homes, while F-16 fighter jets had entered Cambodian airspace on multiple occasions, some dropping bombs near civilian areas.
“Cambodian forces have been fighting fiercely against the advancing enemy and have stood firm in their role of protecting Cambodia’s territorial integrity,” the defense ministry said in a statement.
In July, Trump used the leverage of trade negotiations to broker a ceasefire. Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow on Tuesday told Reuters that tariff threats should not be used to pressure his country into talks.
Last month, Thailand suspended de-escalation measures, agreed at an October summit in Trump’s presence, after a Thai soldier was maimed by a land mine that Bangkok said was newly laid by Cambodia, which rejects the accusation.
HEAVY TOLL ON CIVILIANS
The three days of clashes have taken a heavy toll on civilians, with nine people killed in Cambodia, including an infant, and 46 people wounded, according to its government. Five Thai soldiers had been killed in the fighting and 68 people were wounded, the Thai army said.
On Wednesday, Cambodia withdrew its athletes from the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, citing safety reasons and their families’ concern.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from border areas, though some people have chosen not to leave.
“I have to stay behind,” said Wuttikrai Chimngarm, as he hunkered down behind a makeshift bunker of tires stacked six high while shelling shook Thailand’s border province of Buriram.
“I’m the head of the village, if not me, then who? Who will be safeguarding the houses and belongings of the villagers from looters?“
As soon as Monday’s fighting erupted, residents fled the disputed village of Kaun Kriel, about 25 km (15 miles) northwest of Cambodia’s city of Samraong.
“This is my second run because the place I live ... was under attack both times,” said Cambodian Marng Sarun, a 31-year-old harvester, who left with his wife and two children.
