Reprisal Justice

"The embassy was obviously involved with the cultural centre."
"The centre also operated a Farsi school for children. The teachers at the Farsi school were paid by the embassy, and the embassy sometimes paid other expenses on behalf of the Mobin Foundation."
"[There was] nothing surreptitious about the operation of the cultural centre. To the contrary, it was publicized broadly in the community as a non-profit centre, that was used for community events, charitable events and cultural events like weddings, religious ceremonies and Iranian holidays."
"Iran would fund the embassy's branches according to their budgets if necessary. When fund transfers from Iran were necessary, Iran would forward funds in euros and the embassy would transfer the euros to Canadian dollars in the various Canadian accounts."
Jamal El-Husseini senior Iranian administrator, Mobin Foundation

"Canada had breached its [international commitments] by not protecting Iranian assets."
"Under these complicated circumstances [sanctions imposed on the Iranian regime over its nuclear programs], and in particular because of the Canadian government's unfriendly attitude and negative perception of Iran, selection of a lawyer in Canada was not a straightforward task."
Mohammed Asbaghi, affidavit, Centre for International Legal Affairs, Islamic Republic of Iran

Wayne Cuddington/Postmedia News   The Embassy of Iran in Ottawa on Sept. 7, 2102, after Foreign Minister John Baird announced that diplomatic relations between Canada and Iran had been suspended.

The issue at hand here is a cultural centre located in Ottawa and operated as an extension of the Iranian embassy, now a vacant diplomatic post since Canada cut off diplomatic relations with the Republic, in September of 2102, withdrawing Canadian staff from Iran and inviting Iran to withdraw their diplomatic staff from Ottawa. On paper the Iranian Cultural Centre was operated by the non-profit Mobin Foundation.

That elbow's distance did not entirely serve to cloak the very real fact that the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa used the centre for more malign, propagandist and covert security issues, let alone as a venue where intrigues were incited from. The statement by Mr. El-Husseini represents part of a legal defence that Iran is mounting against an Ontario court order awarding the cultural centre and what remains of Tehran's non-diplomatic assets held in Canada to be dissolved and proceeds distributed to victims of terror.

Which is to say, terrorist acts inflicted on innocent Canadian citizens by Iran's proxy terrorist groups, Hezbollah and Hamas. While Iran argues its Canadian properties and bank accounts represent diplomatic assets, therefore exempt from lawful seizure, it claims an inability to defend itself as well against the claims of terror victims, resulting from Ottawa's "unfriendly attitude", and lack of courtesy in providing a translation of court materials.

The embassy was known to have recruited Canadians of Iranian ancestry to serve Iran's interest, while purporting to represent cultural outreach programs, through the cultural centre. Two months before the embassy was shuttered, the cultural attache of the embassy encouraged in Farsi-language, Iranians with Canadian citizenship to "occupy high-level key positions" within the government of Canada and to "resist being melted into the dominant Canadian culture."

Mr. El-Husseini had worked at the embassy since 2003 and was its executive administrative manager. He hadn't been expelled along with other embassy-employed counterparts because he held Canadian citizenship. And since Canada severed diplomatic ties with Iran in 2012, Iran appointed him caretaker of its Canadian properties. He was vouching that the embassy operated a "cultural branch" and a "higher education branch" considered "responsible for all Iranian students who came to study in Canada" paying expenses and tuition, providing "protection" for them.

The Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, which was brought into law in 2012 opened the door for victims of terrorism inflicted through the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah, sponsored by Tehran to receive compensation for their traumas inflicted upon them by the malign forces of Islamist terrorism. Iran became the logical first target of the restitutively moral law given the fact it armed and trained both terrorist groups.

In March the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ordered sheriffs to seize bank accounts and properties owned by Tehran, their disposal's earnings to be shared among victims. Those assets include fourteen bank accounts to the value of over $2.6-million and Toronto and Ottawa-based properties which the Department of Foreign Affairs deems non-diplomatic.