Canadian Iranian activist says Iran won't let his parents leave the country

Canadian Iranian human rights activist Hamed Esmaeilion — who lost his wife and child in the destruction of Flight PS752 by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — says his parents have now been banned from leaving Iran, despite their permanent resident status in Canada.

In an interview with CBC News, Esmaeilion also accused Iran's Intelligence Ministry of harassing and intimidating his family members in Iran with repeated phone calls.

"The amount of pressure that they apply on families, it's inhumane," he said. "It's brutal what they're doing."

Esmaeilion's wife and nine-year-old daughter were killed in January 2020 when the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shot down the Ukrainian passenger plane over Tehran with a pair of surface-to-air missiles. All 176 people onboard died, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.

Esmaeilion and the families of other victims' have been staging protests demanding justice ever since.

Esmaeilion said he has personally reported to Canadian authorities acts of harassment, intimidation and death threats that he believes could be tied to proxies of Iran's regime. CSIS last year told CBC News it was investigating credible reports of death threats from Iran against individuals on Canadian soil.

Esmaeilion said his mother and father were barred last week from leaving Iran for six months, with no explanation.

University of Ottawa Iran expert Thomas Juneau said this development suggests Iran's regime is ramping up its campaign to try to silence dissidents abroad.

Iran's government, he said, is sending the Iranian diaspora a message: "We are watching your family. We follow them. We know who they are. We know where they live and we are willing to pressure them to try to repress you."

Banning travel is a common move by dictatorships that allows them to maintain "leverage on dissidents abroad," Juneau said.

Esmaeilion said he believes Tehran is retaliating against him and others over their campaign to hold Iran accountable for the destruction of Flight PS752, and to expel regime members from Canada.

One former Iranian minister, banned from Canada by the federal government in August, reportedly told an Iranian media outlet that he would seek retaliation against Esmaeilion.

Esmaeilion was among those who posted his outrage online after a photo surfaced allegedly showing the minister walking down the street in Montreal with his family.

Months later, when Esmaeilion's 73-year-old mother, Tooran Shamsollahi, went to the airport in Tehran, she was stopped by IRGC officials, he said.