Iran – Why did Canada impose sanctions against Al-Mustafa University?
The Iranian regime continues to harass protesters and demonstrators. On the one hand, popular anger is increasing and the security response is becoming more violent on the other. This prompted the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to impose the fourth package of sanctions on Iran for human rights violations.
The sanctions included 4 individuals and entities, including the police force and its leader, Hassan Rahimi, due to the suppression of popular protests and the arrest of protesters, Al-Mustafa International University in Qom, an ideological institution affiliated with the Iranian regime, is spreading the regime’s policies through its branches in foreign countries.
The Suspect University
The Canadian Foreign Ministry confirmed that students from Al-Mustafa University are regularly recruited into the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. In 2020, the U.S. Treasury Department also sanctioned Al-Mustafa International University, declaring that this institution has branches all over the world, serves as a source of information for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and recruits militias under the command of the Quds Force, which is in Syria. In 2015, Kosovo prosecutors demanded the expulsion of an Iranian cleric who was active as a representative of Mustafa University in that country. Hasan Azeri was charged with failing to disclose the sources and whereabouts of the hundreds of thousands of euros spent between 2005 and 2015. Iranian figures such as: Hasan Rahimi, Commander of the Tehran Police Force; Ahmad Fazlian, Deputy Prosecutor General; Asadullah Jafari, Head of the Northern Khorasan District; and Mortedha Mussavi, Deputy Head of the Mazandaran District, were among the sanctions. The Canadian Foreign Ministry statement said that three of the individuals subject to the sanctions were directly involved in the systematic harassment of the Baha’i religious minority in Iran. The statement confirmed that the police force was involved in the arbitrary arrest and killing of demonstrators, including through its own units. Canadian sanctions will prevent those subject to the sanctions from dealing with citizens of Canada, “Iranian citizens, including women and young people, are risking their lives because they have endured too much time under a regime that represses and violates their humanity,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said in a statement.
Headed by Khamenei
Al-Mustafa International University has presented itself as a scientific and international institution with a field identity, aiming at expanding the Islamic, humanitarian and social sciences, with an educational and research curriculum, to include a large number of students from all over the world. The main and targeted audience are non-Iranian students. According to the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, up to 10% of Iranian students can study at this university. The Al-Mustafa International University is headed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who is responsible for approving the constitution, electing members of the Board of Trustees, appointing and dismissing the President of the University, the representative of the Supreme Council of the Estate, the Secretary General of the World Association of Islamic Religions, and representatives of some other institutions and three to five “scholars and thinkers” who are familiar with international issues,” in this university, selected by the Board of trustees Ali, Ali Khamenei Ali Ali, and vice-Vice-President of the University in December 2 More than 100,000 male and female students from 136 countries study at this scientific center, he said: There are more than 4,000 teachers and faculty members in affiliated and related centers at Al-Mustafa University. He also announced that 2,500 female students study in the religious schools of this university in Iran and that 6,500 students study in its units outside Iran.
