Canada has deported Syed Salman Samani, Iran’s former deputy interior minister and official spokesperson, after a Federal Court judge dismissed his last-minute appeal against his removal from the country.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) confirmed that Samani had been removed from Canada, making him the second senior Iranian regime official expelled under Ottawa’s policy targeting high-ranking members of Iran’s government.
“As a matter of public interest, the CBSA can confirm that it has removed Syed Salman Samani from Canada,” the agency said in a statement.
Samani arrived in Canada in October 2021 after serving as a “career politician” in Iran between 2007 and 2021, according to the CBSA.
“The subject demonstrated his commitment and loyalty to the regime throughout his career,” the agency said in its report on the case.
The Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) ordered Samani’s deportation in 2024, but he challenged the decision before the Federal Court. His appeal was rejected in a decision released this week.
Federal Court Justice Sébastien Grammond said Samani had acknowledged to the CBSA that he “had significant power and influence over government decisions.”
Grammond also noted that Samani’s ministry oversaw “police forces, which were responsible for the widespread killing of civilians and other human rights abuses.”
As a government spokesperson, Samani “publicly defended the ministry’s conduct” during Iran’s 2019 crackdown on protesters, the court said.
The court further found that he “publicly threatened politicians who were questioning that conduct,” although Samani maintained to the CBSA that he “did nothing wrong during this period.”
Samani had argued that he left Iran because of the killing of demonstrators and said he feared he could be harmed if Canada returned him to the country.
The judge, however, ruled that the likelihood of such harm was not sufficient to outweigh Canada’s interest in removing “those responsible for systematic human rights violations.”
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Samani had also sought to keep his court appeal secret. While the judge dismissed that application, the court agreed to seal the files because of the sensitivity of the case.
Ottawa introduced its policy against senior Iranian government officials in 2022, barring high-ranking members of Iran’s government from entering Canada. The government has since faced pressure to enforce the measure against officials already living in the country.
According to figures released by the CBSA on June 30, the agency had launched 181 investigations into suspected “senior officials of the Iranian regime” living in Canada.
“To date, the CBSA have identified 37 individuals that are believed to be senior officials of the regime,” the agency said.
Eight of those individuals left Canada before deportation hearings began, while the IRB issued deportation orders against three others on the grounds that they were senior regime members.
Another seven were found by the IRB not to be senior regime members, while nine cases remain before the board. The CBSA is also preparing cases against another 10 individuals, with 55 still under investigation.
The Montreal-based Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights welcomed Samani’s removal.
“Samani’s deportation is a welcome and necessary enforcement,” the organisation said.
“However, he is only the second senior Iranian regime official to be removed since the government’s 2022 designation. The law must now be enforced consistently against other senior regime officials who may be present in Canada.”
A CBSA spokesperson said the agency would continue taking action to prevent Iranian regime members “from seeking or finding safe haven in Canada.”
The agency also said a record 23,160 foreign nationals were removed from Canada in 2025 and that it was “currently executing approximately 400 removal orders per week.”
The CBSA added that it had hired more enforcement officers “to expedite the processing of inadmissible foreign nationals facing removal from Canada.”
(Global News)