A month ago, Raheel Raza, a high-profile Muslim Pakistani Canadian journalist, beloved human rights activist, and fearless critic of Islamist extremism, learned that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is targeting her.Despite media exposing her plight, no Canadian official reached out to discuss the Iranian Armed Forces’ IRGC terror squad distributing her photo and profile to proxies on its internal network and X. This is only one IRGC method that potentially endangers critics it wants to silence.Iran employs intimidation tactics to smear and discredit journalists and human rights activists “on a very large scale,” said Raza..OLDCORN: Supreme Court’s softening on child porn sentences is a national disgrace.“The IRGC is dangerous. They’re here in Canada. I believe Iranian dissidents have also been targeted. This is an issue that’s larger than me. If only people would understand this isn’t about Raheel Raza. It’s about Canada and the safety of Canadian citizens.”“I asked myself why would anyone want to put a photo of a 75-year-old grandmother who has just had a kidney transplant on social media?”“I’ve been speaking out against the regime and their treatment of women. I personally think they’re also ticked off because I’m a woman. This is a misogynist patriarchal regime, and I’m a Muslim woman who speaks out against violence, against terror, against radicalization, against all the things they represent.”.Raza, president of Muslims Facing Tomorrow, exposes Islamic networks, promotes interfaith dialogue, and defends Israel’s right to exist.On October 1, she received a formal warning, not from any Canadian source, but from the US-based cybersecurity firm Quantalytics Inc., that the IRGC’s sophisticated hacking cyber-espionage unit APT35, a.k.a. KittenBusters, stole data from her secure site — including almost 24,000 emails. Soon after, she connected with California-based Holistic Resilience, which tracks the IRGC’s online activity. It confirmed the warning.“One guy told me this is what they do. They hire hundreds of people to do nothing but monitor people on social media and websites, and so on. When they want to track you, there’s nothing you can do.” .PINDER: United Nations deception – Inside the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s ‘Science’ factory.Raza sent the link to an Iranian friend. “She said, ‘Raheel, anything you have said or done since 2017 is on this page.’”“You are on Iran’s radar,” several Iranian dissidents warned her.Unfortunately, Raza fell under the radar of Canadian officials..“No one from the government or RCMP has reached out. I’ve taken precautions to protect myself because there doesn’t seem to be any government protection.”An intermediary is trying to facilitate a meeting with the RCMP. No luck yet. “I’m at the point where I don’t know what to do. I’m not afraid for myself. I’m concerned about my family. I’m concerned about Canada.” .BINDA: BC must slam the brakes on its gas car ban.“They’re entrenched. Iranian dissidents and activists like me have been warning about this. This is foreign interference. It’s a very old story. Foreign interference doesn’t only mean funding universities.”Raza has received a fatwa and death threats over the years.“But it was from individuals. This concerned me because I was warned this is the IRGC, part of the regime.” .The warning came on the heels of the assassination of her friend, Pakistani journalist Imtiaz Mir, a peace activist who supported the Abraham Accords. He was ambushed in Pakistan on September 17 and died a week later. Gunmen with the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (Al-Hosseini Resistance), linked to the Iranian regime, claimed credit.“This act was not an act of random violence — it was a calculated attempt to silence a voice that wanted dialogue and bridge-building,” said Pakistan’s International Religious Freedom Roundtable in a statement.Raza said it’s no coincidence that the day after Mir’s assassination, her family and friends began receiving anonymous phone calls asking about her whereabouts. For years, she’s warned the West about Islamist extremism infiltration..HANNAFORD: Time for the right to work in Alberta?.“You have to understand the mindset of these Islamists, of these absolutely extremist fundamentalists who think they’re protectors of the faith. I know the mindset of these ideologues.”Raza said she’s ensnared in the “Salman Rushdie syndrome” where the direct message isn’t “go out and kill her.” Rather, exposing her plants an idea in an Islamist mind that it may be “doing the regime a favour” that’ll get him to heaven to be “with 72 virgins.”.Supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini did eventually issue a fatwa against American novelist Salman Rushdie after his book, The Satanic Verses, was published in 1988. Khomeini offered a $3 million bounty for his assassination. In 2022, in New York, Rushdie was stabbed and partially blinded by extremist Hadi Matar, 24.No effort to contact Raza by officials is unnerving considering that the IRGC was designated a terrorist organization by the federal government last year due to its role in shooting down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, killing 176 people in 2020.Canada’s public inquiry into foreign interference pointed to Iran’s active meddling in Canada. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security warned that cyber espionage will continue against Canadian journalists and activists that Iran views as a threat..OLDCORN: Lukaszuk’s petition doesn’t slam the door on an independence vote.The IRGC is the death squad that has detained and disappeared thousands of dissidents in Iran. The regime crushes women’s rights under Sharia law. In 2024, Roya Heshmeti, 23, was flogged 74 times for not covering her head and “violating public morals” and “defying hijab rules.” In 2022, Masha Amini was arrested and detained by the morality police for failing to wear a hijab. She was beaten, fell into a coma, and died. Sexual minority activists and Christians are executed in Iran. “My question is when there’s a regime or religious leadership, whatever you want to call them, who’ll torture and hurt women for showing a strand of hair, why would they have any respect for humanity?” said Raza.Raza, who migrated to Canada in 1988, won’t be deterred..“We came to Canada to embrace all the values that Canada gives us. When I see what has been allowed to happen on our streets, it saddens me. This isn’t the future I want for my children or grandchildren. I want them to feel safe.”“I hope there’s still a chance for it to be the country we came to. Because of my love for this country, I’ll always stand when I sing the national anthem.”Nothing will stop her from continuing her work..THOMAS: New Calgary city council sworn in; it must take the common sense approach.“As a Muslim woman, an activist, and an advocate for women’s rights, I’m able to give voice to those who don’t have one. If my voice is going to be stifled, who is going to speak for me?”“I’ll fight until my last breath to eliminate hate and violence, to support peacemakers, to support those who are fighting aggression and suppression, and be a voice for the voiceless.”
