Iranian plot to kill Irwin Cotler foiled

Canadian authorities foiled an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Irwin Cotler, 84, justice minister and attorney general from 2003 to 2006, and rights activist, who has been a strong critic of Tehran. Cotler retired from politics in 2015.

According to The Globe and Mail, Cotler was notified last month of an impending threat of assassination by Iranian agents.

He had already been receiving police protection over the past year, following security concerns about his global advocacy to have Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps listed as a terrorist entity and Canadian officials did not immediately comment on the report.

Ottawa, which severed diplomatic ties with Iran more than a decade ago, listed the Revolutionary Guard as a banned terror group in June. Cotler also represented Iranian political prisoners and dissidents. He also served as international chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and a strong supporter of Israel.

His daughter, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, is an Israeli politician and diplomat who previously served as a member of Israel’s parliament.

Cotler is an Israel supporter and in 2023 he received an award from President Isaac Herzog. In 2004, he lobbied for the appointment of Jewish Justice Rosalie Abella to the Supreme Court, bringing the number of Jewish Supreme Court justices in Canada at the time to four.

In the past, he initiated a proposal to prosecute former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for incitement to genocide.