Thank you.

Honourable members of the foreign affairs and international development committee, good afternoon. I would like to thank you for providing me this opportunity to deliver remarks regarding the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, or IRGC, and the current human rights situation in Iran. In my brief remarks, I would like to share my perspective and concerns and offer some recommendations.

As an Iranian human rights lawyer, I have acted as counsel and represented over 130 defendants who have faced politically motivated prosecution before the Iranian courts, and I have as well represented Iranian citizens and dual nationals appearing before revolutionary courts.

I can confidently state that the Iranian judiciary has no independence in such cases and that so-called security judges presiding over these cases simply rubber-stamp decisions dictated to them by organizations associated with the security apparatus, particularly the intelligence organization of the IRGC.

During the first decade of my legal work, the IRGC interfered in all of these cases behind the scenes, and the basis for decisions rendered was never codified in judicial rules or regulation; however, starting in 2015, as the IRGC commanders assumed an even tighter control of parliamentary prosecutors, they also legislated a process that would be favourable to the security establishment by codifying it in the code of criminal procedure.

These new regulations empowered two security and military organizations acting at the behest of the IRGC to act as judicial officials. This meant that members of the intelligence organization of the IRGC and Basij were now fully authorized to manipulate and predetermine the outcome of proceedings regarding prosecutions that occurred before the revolutionary courts, using article 29 of the code of criminal procedure.

Following these sinister developments, I believe that the entire legal and judicial framework of the Iranian court system collapsed. The Iranian court system has no semblance of justice or of judicial independence. Three years ago, I analyzed this development in detail in an article entitled “Legal Collapse: The Last Crisis of a Political System” that was published by the BBC.

This collapse has come about because members of parliament as well as members of the Guardian Council do not represent the innocence of people and do not act to safeguard what is usually referred to as the public interest. Instead they represent the political leadership of the theocratic regime and the intents of the IRGC; therefore, it should come as no surprise that they will legislate laws and regulations that are merely concerned with protecting the state apartheid and demonstrate absolutely no regard for the public interest or the rule of law.

As we have seen in the aftermath of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, instead of implementing justice, judges merely act in accordance with the oath they have taken to protect the supreme leaders and serve the Islamic revolution. They will prosecute innocent protesters with the utmost cruelty and harshness.

The IRGC effectively controls all the political, economic, judicial and social levers in Iran, and even cultural institutions, like an octopus with multiple arms. We are witnessing the consequences of this domination in the form of gender apartheid, which complements and reinforces long-existing ethnic and religious-based discriminations.

In conclusion, I would like to offer the following two recommendations.

First, the Canadian government should lead global efforts to recognize gender apartheid as a crime under international law, or more specifically, to codify gender apartheid as a crime against humanity. Much like racial apartheid represented a most serious and unacceptable international crime, so does gender apartheid. The Canadian government should work with like-minded countries and allies to draft a resolution recognizing gender apartheid, just as resolution 3068 effectively defined racial apartheid as an international offence and crime in 1973.

Second, the Canadian government should target the overwhelming economic interests of the IRGC with smart sanctions so that the IRGC's security and intelligence arms are substantially weakened and their repression and their implementation of gender apartheid are no longer permitted.

Both of these actions are urgent and time sensitive. I urge you to pursue them as high priorities.

Thank you for your attention and concern. I look forward to answering any questions you may have.