Toronto murder victim identified as Iranian-Canadian Mohammad Mehdi Amin Sadeghieh
TORONTO — An Iranian-Canadian human rights advocate found dead in his home north of Toronto this week was a kind, polite gentleman who never argued with anyone, friends of his said Friday as police asked for help with the investigation.
York Regional Police have identified Mohammad Mehdi Amin
Sadeghieh, 58, as the victim of a suspected homicide. Sadeghieh — who went by
Mehdi Amin — was found dead in his townhouse on Wednesday afternoon, a police
spokesman said.
Ardeshir Zarezadeh, a Toronto-based human rights advocate
who fled Iran in 2004, said he first met Amin at a political gathering 10 years
ago.
“He caught my attention because I found him very polite and
very nice. Unlike many, he never argued with people,” Zarezadeh said in an
interview Friday.
Over the next decade, the two got to know each other and
eventually became like brothers, Zarezadeh said. He last heard from Amin on
Oct. 12, when they wished each other a happy Thanksgiving. They had planned to
go on a bicycle ride together, but it never happened.
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“I got so busy. I don’t know … He was in my mind every day,
and I had this feeling that, ‘I have to call him.’ Very strange feeling. I was
under the impression that, ‘It’s getting late, I have to call him and we have
to plan for this bicycling together for next week.’ But I was so busy,”
Zarezadeh said.
Police have not identified a suspected motive in Amin’s
killing, and a spokesman would only say Friday that investigators will look at
“everything.”
“Investigators will take any piece of information — any
little tip, anything — and investigate that thoroughly ,” Sgt. Andy Pattenden
said in an interview.
“But as far as what they have looked at or what connections
they’ve drawn or anything with regards to motive — (that) is something that we
wouldn’t release as part of an ongoing investigation.”
Investigators are particularly interested in video footage
from Amin’s townhouse complex, where Pattenden said security cameras are
plentiful. They also want to know what happened to Amin’s vehicle, a black
Honda CRV, which was not found at the home.
Zarezadeh was careful not to jump to conclusions about his
friend’s death, but urged police to take seriously the idea that it could have
been politically motivated in some way.
“I only think of the agents of the Iranian regime as his
first and last enemy,” he said. “That’s the only thing I can think of.”
Kaveh Shahrooz, a Toronto-based lawyer and human rights
activist who also knew Amin, reiterated Zarezadeh’s calls for a thorough
investigation, saying many in the Iranian-Canadian community are feeling
unsafe.
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“I really hope that the authorities take the concerns of the
community seriously. I hope they do investigate the political angle,” Shahrooz
said in an interview.
“Even if it turns out to be that this was not politically
motivated, I hope that our security agencies understand the fear that we live
with. Because you know, we’re fighting back against a regime that has no
hesitation in using violence against its critics either at home or abroad.”
According to the U.S. Department of State, the Iranian
regime has been responsible for “as many as 360 targeted assassinations in
other countries” since coming to power in 1979.
“Iranian diplomatic personnel have repeatedly been
implicated in assassinations abroad, as evidenced by arrest warrants, judicial
and police investigations, intelligence services, and witness reports,”
according to a May 2020 fact sheet on the State department website.
Neither Public Safety Canada nor Global Affairs Canada
immediately responded to requests for comment.
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