Canada Preparing to List Iran’s IRGC as a Terrorist Group, Says CBC

Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards participate in a military parade to commemorate the anniversary of the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, in Tehran. (Reuters)
Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards participate in a military parade to commemorate the anniversary of the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, in Tehran. (Reuters)
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Canada Preparing to List Iran’s IRGC as a Terrorist Group, Says CBC

Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards participate in a military parade to commemorate the anniversary of the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, in Tehran. (Reuters)
Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards participate in a military parade to commemorate the anniversary of the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, in Tehran. (Reuters)

Canada is preparing to list Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization and could make an announcement as early as this week, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp said on Wednesday.

The CBC, citing multiple sources, said the details of the measure had not been finalized.

Opposition legislators have long demanded the IRGC be listed but the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has so far declined, saying to do so risked unintended consequences.

In October 2022, Ottawa said such a move might unfairly capture Iranians in Canada who had fled the country but were conscripted into the force when still in Iran.

The office of Foreign Minister Melanie Joly was not immediately available for comment on the CBC report.

Canada already lists the IRGC's overseas arm, the Quds Force, as a terrorist group. Ottawa broke off diplomatic relations with Tehran in 2012.

Once a group is placed on the terror list, police can charge anyone who financially or materially supports the group and banks can freeze assets, the CBC said.

In October 2022, Canada said it would ban the IRGC's top leadership from entering the country and promised more targeted sanctions. At the time, Deputy prime Minister Chrystia Freeland stated that "the IRGC is a terrorist organization".

The IRGC, a powerful faction that controls a business empire as well as elite armed and intelligence forces in Iran, has been accused by Western nations of carrying out a global terrorist campaign. Iran rejects that.



UK to Use Police Stations as Prisons under Emergency Measure

Police officers are seen in London, Britain, November 27, 2024. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
Police officers are seen in London, Britain, November 27, 2024. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
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UK to Use Police Stations as Prisons under Emergency Measure

Police officers are seen in London, Britain, November 27, 2024. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
Police officers are seen in London, Britain, November 27, 2024. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy

Police cells will temporarily be used to hold prisoners in a stop-gap measure to cope with overcrowding in jails, the British government said on Tuesday.

The emergency action, dubbed "Operation Safeguard", allows inmates to be held in police cells when prisons are full, and was previously used from February 2023 to October last year, Reuters said.

The prison population in England and Wales has doubled in the last 30 years, according to official data, leading to overcrowding as new places have failed to keep pace with demand. Justice systems in Scotland and Northern Ireland are run separately.

In a statement to parliament, Shabana Mahmood said the prison system was operating at more than 99% occupancy.

January saw the highest average monthly prison population growth in almost two years, as part of a rising trend in the last three months that "has only just begun to slow", she added.

"Given the recent increase in demand, it is necessary, and prudent, for me to temporarily reactivate Operation Safeguard to better manage the flow of offenders into the prison estate," Mahmood said.

According to the World Prison Brief database, imprisonment rates in England and Wales are higher than in other major European countries, with 141 detainees per 100,000 population, against 120 in France, 117 in Spain, 105 in Italy and 68 in Germany.