Two folks charged with ‘targeted’ homicide of Canadian activist who spoke out towards Iranian regime | EUROtoday

Canadian authorities have arrested and charged two males in reference to the “targeted” homicide of an activist who spoke out towards the Iranian regime.

Police launched a seek for Masood Masjoody, a 45-year-old resident of Burnaby, British Columbia, on February 2, after receiving studies from his involved neighbors, in response to a press release from Canada’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.

His stays have been reportedly present in Mission, British Columbia, a few month later.

Now, investigators have introduced the arrests of 48-year-old Mehdi Ahmadzadeh Razavi and 45-year-old Arezou Soltani, in response to a number of information studies. The two males are every dealing with one rely of first-degree homicide.

Freda Fong, a spokesperson for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, instructed reporters the 2 males knew Masjoody and had beforehand argued with him on social media, in response to The New York Times. It’s unclear if these disputes performed a job in his demise, she added.

“While the motive is still under investigation, we can say the victim and the two accused were known to each other and that this was a targeted incident,” Fong stated.

Investigators stated the 2 males do not need prior prison convictions in Canada, the CBC studies. They’re anticipated to look in court docket Monday.

The Independent has contacted the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team and the British Columbia Prosecution Service for remark.

It’s unclear if Razavi and Soltani have obtained attorneys. The Independent was unable to establish their attorneys for remark.

Masjoody was identified for his “online presence” and work as a mathematician, investigators stated in a press release final month.

The activist was an outspoken critic of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and reportedly affiliated with the Iran Front for the Revival of Law and National Sovereignty, a company that advocates towards the Iranian regime.

Masjoody “ultimately became a victim of the very phenomenon about which he consistently warned: lawlessness, political violence, and a totalitarian mindset that resorts to intimidation and elimination instead of accountability before the law,” the group stated in a press release Sunday.

The group alleges that his demise is a part of a premeditated “circle killing” that’s “carried out within dangerous networks, the very networks about which Dr. Masjoody repeatedly warned during his lifetime.”

“From this perspective, the legal and judicial responsibility for this criminal act cannot be limited solely to the direct perpetrators, but may also extend to instigators, organizers, and others who played a role in the development of this process,” the group added.

The group has urged for a broader investigation into “defamation, intimidation and elimination aimed at silencing dissenting voices by any possible means.”

News of Masjoody’s demise comes lower than two months after Brooklyn resident Carlisle Rivera was sentenced to fifteen years in jail for his function in a plot to kill Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and human rights activist.

Rivera was arrested in November 2024, earlier than he may perform the “murder-for-hire” plot, which was “directed by the Government of Iran,” the Justice Department stated in a press release.

During the listening to, Alinejad and her husband defined that they have been compelled to repeatedly transfer houses and restrict interactions with their youngsters due to the assassination plots towards them, the Associated Press studies.

“I’m just a woman,” she stated. “My weapon is my voice. My weapon is my social media.”