Canada has revoked the charity status of a group linked to the Iranian regime and its affiliated terrorist organization. According to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), the Islamic Shia Assembly of Canada (ISAC), a charity that has been operating in Toronto for more than 20 years, is a “facilitator” of the Iranian Ahlul Bayt World Assembly (ABWA).
The CRA has concerns that the charity is being used to spread the Iranian regime’s ideology in Canada. After carrying out an audit, the CRA has decided to take away the organisation’s status as a charity.
The Ahl-ul-bayt World Assembly or ABWA in Iran, is linked to the Iranian regime and the organisation’s secretary-general is described as the “operational father” of the Lebanese Hezbollah.
The ISAC has been a very active group inviting and welcoming members of the country’s parliament to some of its many events. Canada severed diplomatic relations with Iran back in 2012 and considers the regime as a major threat and a state sponsor of terrorism.
The Canada Revenue Agency has said that the ABWA is a department in the Iran regime’s cultural wing that plays a big role in the export of the Islamic revolution. Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of Hezbollah, sits on its Supreme Council and the ABWA leader, Mohammad Hassan Akhtari, was the one to establish the military-like structure of Hezbollah.
The ISAC has denied the allegations via its lawyers saying, “The (ISAC) organization denies any and all allegations made in any correspondence from the CRA in connection with the CRA’s revocation process.”
In mid-2016, the auditors indicated that ISAC was fully or partly set-up to work with the “operational goals” of the ABWA in Canada, going as far as describing it as “an ABWA branch”.
The CRA claims that the ABWA interferes in the business of the charity and that ISAC directors went to conferences run by the ABWA. Furthermore, the ABWA’s logo appeared on the CRA website.
According to CRA, the ISAC’s charity status was revoked because its activities are not in line with Canadian law. Its links to the Iranian regime and Hezbollah group, as well as its “strong political agenda” were deciding factors.
The charity’s founder, Syed Hosseni-Nassab was also the president of the Islamic Centre of Hamburg. German authorities said that it was an organisation that has links to the Iranian regime and is involved in the spread of the ideology of the so-called Islamic revolution. Authorities also said that the Islamic Centre of Hamburg spread pro-regime propaganda across Germany.
It is known that the Iranian regime has centers, diplomats and organisations across the world that work with the regime to provide intelligence about the host countries and/or to spread pro-regime messages and to dispel the genuine concerns about the Iran threat.
Recent evidence clearly indicate that the regime in Iran has been using its centers as well as its embassies in Europe and elsewhere to spy on and plot terror against members of Iran’s opposition and European and American citizens.
In 2018, Iran’s intelligence service used the regime’s spies and (diplomat) terrorists to plot terror on the MEK members as well as on Europeans nationals and Americans in European countries, from France to Germany and Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Austria, and Albania.