The Iranian Theocracy of Terror and Vengeance

"This disaster is a reminder of what it means to be Canadian and to belong to this cosmopolitan nation."
"There is a certain fluidity of identity when you open your doors to the whole world."
"Exile is a longing to belong. It's an emotional space that we confuse with a physical space."
"There is this very strong identity which is based on historical continuity. [Out of a diverse culture in Iran, Iranians treasure a deep attachment to] a rich mystical culture that refuses to be eclipsed despite the wars and invasions of the centuries."
Payam Akhavan, former UN war crimes prosecutor, professor of law, McGill University

Iran is known to have Russian-made Tor missile defence systems   AFP Getty Images

Canada has suddenly lost a large swath of citizens of Iranian heritage. In one fell swoop fate struck down the passenger plane they boarded at Tehran International Airport, bound for Kyiv in Ukraine. They hadn't yet reached cruising height, just several minutes into take-off from the airport when the Boeing 737-800 Ukrainian airliner suddenly burst into flames and plummeted to the ground, shattered, passengers and crew killed in the conflagration and crash.

Their connecting flight from Kyiv to Toronto arrived on schedule in Toronto later, where the 138 passengers of the total 176 that left Tehran, were to deplane, but there was no one to occupy those flight-reserved seats, it arrived void of those passengers, a silent rebuke to fate. A total of 63 Canadians perished in that first leg of their journey from Iran to Canada. Other Iranians had been scheduled to arrive in Canada for various reasons; Iranian students attending university in Canada, people on travel visas.

Delaram Dadashnejad, 26, was studying nutrition at Langara College. (Ksenia Ivanova)

The Canadians whose lives were forfeited when, as now being announced, the plane was hit by a sophisticated missile system, represented a full spectrum of any society; families, business professionals, academics, children, university students. Many of the Iranian students studying at Canadian universities would decide to stay in Canada, to become Canadian citizens; their long-range agenda will now never be realized. An 8-year-old, a 9-year-old and a one-year old child aboard will never see adulthood.

Iranian Canadians hailing from Western Canada to Central Canada are being mourned, their tragic deaths traumatizing their communities, stunning the nation. Toronto was home to such a large contingent of Iranian expatriates it was sometimes referred to within that community as "Tehranto".
Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran under the Shiite Ayatollahs is nothing like the social and cultural treasurehouse it once was. The militant leadership embracing terrorism as a mode of entry to commanding regional conquest has completely divorced itself from what the West views as civil behaviour.

 U of Toronto student Mojtaba Abbasnezhad, crash victim. (Mojtaba Abbasnezhad/Facebook)

Its relentless and violently injurious embarkation on undermining an already-fractious Sunny-majority mostly Arab Middle East to place Aryan Persia in the ascendancy, its viral anti-Israel pathology where threats against Israel's existence reveal its plans for Iran's future as the authority in the Middle East, its unstoppable search for and research into technological advances in nuclear arms and ballistic missiles of increasing sophistication, its commitment to spurning Western overtures and its ardent support of regional terrorist groups reveal it as a threat to peace, security and stability.

Internal dissent by disaffected Iranians has roiled the country time and again, and the regime's response has been swift, brutal and viciously deadly. The sanctions placed on Iran by a new administration in the United States determined to keep nuclear weaponry out of the regime's possession has disastrously weakened the Republic's economy. But not to the point where they will forego funding their proxy terrorist militias, nor fail to supply them with missiles, nor direct them to sectarian violence.

Samira Bashiri, husband Hamid Setareh Kokab, (Submitted by Sahar Nikoo)

All this is what most expatriate Iranians have sought to escape, to find refuge elsewhere to live aspirational lives of achievement and decency. All the while a yearning for the culture and heritage left behind propels many to return for brief periods, not the least cause of which is to keep in touch with extended family members left behind. That yearning led to the cessation of life itself for those whose misfortune was to be in their country of origin at this critical time.

When an irate theocratic regime whose focus is on the return of the Hidden Mahdi to bring the final destruction of all non-Muslims and the elevation of the faithful to Paradise, and doesn't mind hastening the process reflecting its corrosive scorn for humanity other than those it claims for its own, recklessly sacrifices the lives of innocents to emphasize its contempt for the West and the power it calls 'the Great Satan'.

Rescue teams gather at the scene after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in the Iranian capital Tehran early in the morning on Jan. 8. Rouhollah Vahdati/ISNA/AFP via Getty Images

The Religion of Peace At It Again

"You see him on his Facebook profile and he’s smiling."
"It’s infuriating because you think to yourself, he shouldn’t be allowed to smile. He’s a killer, right? But there he is."
"[His name can be seen written on the base of his ammunition, which] would be typical of officers of the Philippine National Police worn by the Special Counter Insurgency Operation Unit, or SCOUT] being responsible for their issued kit."
"With that congruence of factors going on we have strong reason to believe that he was at some point a police officer within the PNP. And we’ve got nothing to refute that at this time." 
"[SCOUT training] would put him in an ideal position for a leadership role within Abu Sayyaf. Everything that you would need to know to attack Abu Sayyaf, now you have this member within Abu Sayyaf that can counter all of those different things that are happening to them."
So it’s a really significant finding in terms of our investigation and it also points to the difficulty that the Philippine army is having in trying to stop, get rid of, remove Abu Sayyaf."

"I think, like all Canadians, we were shocked by what was taking place. And having our skill set and knowing that Abu Sayyaf was very active on social media, we saw an opportunity to see if there was any way that we could provide input or gather intelligence on the group ourselves.
And so when the initial hostage videos, the ransom videos, came out, we started to monitor Abu Sayyaf on primarily Facebook."


"The fact that he stepped forward to be the executioner in both John Risdel and Robert Hall’s murders, there’s a reason for that. He’s looking to take on a broader role. And having that skill set, that SCOUT training, would also accelerate him up the ladder."


Jeff Weyers, senior analyst,Waterloo, Ontario-based iBrabo, Global News, December 18, 2018

Facebook photo believed to show Abu Sayyaf militant Bhen Tatuh wearing a Philippine National Police uniform

The RCMP is aware of the independent report.""We continue to work with our international partners regarding the ongoing criminal investigation into the deaths of Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall in the Philippines."Sgt. Marie Damian, spokesperson, Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Facebook photo of Behn Tatuh, with ISIS flag behind him.
iBrabo

That was then, when Canadians anxiously read news reports of the two kidnapped Canadians for whose release the Islamist terrorist group now associated formally with Islamic State, was demanding millions. That was when newly-installed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated firmly that Canada does not pay ransom to terrorists. Of course, Canada has done so, through intermediaries in the past, it is why it came about that two former Canadian diplomats, Robert Fowler and Louis Guay taken hostage in Niger by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) were finally released, though then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper denied having paid ransom.

More latterly, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on Jolo island where Abu Sayyaf militants have continued to carry out kidnappings, beheadings and bombings was attacked as devout Catholic Filipinos were at prayer on Sunday. Window panels were blasted out by the force of the first bomb that hurled humans and debris across the town square in the provincial capital of Sulu. In response to this latest atrocity Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, ordered his troops to hunt down and crush the Abu Sayyaf group. 

They've done a bang-up job with drug traffickers, not so great with Islamist terrorists. "This is an act of terrorism. This is not a religious war", confusingly stated the Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, identifying Abu Sayyaf commander Hatib Sawadjaan as being responsible for the attack. This is the commander of the group that beheaded the two Canadians back in 2009, when the ransom demand went unfulfilled. His base is the jungles close to the town of Patikul near Jolo. 



The minority Muslim population in predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines had endorsed a new autonomous region in the southern Philippines to put an end to close to five decades of separatist rebellion in which 150,000 people had been killed. Most of the Muslim areas had approved autonomy, while those in Sulu province chose to reject the deal. 

Typical of Islamic State, there were two suicide bombers involved, wearing explosive belts. One of the bombers detonated his explosives at the gate, and while wounded parishioners began to flee the interior of the cathedral, and armed forces personnel were rushing in, the second suicide bomber detonated his explosives in the parking lot. The death toll was twenty, while another 111 people were wounded; five troops and 15 civilians made up the death count.

A soldier views the site inside a Roman Catholic cathedral in southern Philippines after two bombs exploded Sunday.

"As we convey our sincerest condolences to the families and friends of the victims and offer our sympathy to the peace-loving people of Sulu who are severely affected by this dastardly act, we assure our people that we will use the full force of the law to bring to justice the perpetrators behind this incident."

"[People should] remain calm and avoid spreading panic in our respective communities to deny terrorism any victory."

Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana

Even in the Philippines, with tough-guy Duterte at the helm, authorities take exquisite care not to rile the sensibilities and besmirch the 'honour' of Islam by speaking words such as Islamist terrorists, lest the beast be bestirred to even greater and more horrendous atrocities; not that President Duterte would mind all that much being accused of 'Islamophobia'.