{"id":10247,"date":"2019-10-26T12:19:25","date_gmt":"2019-10-26T08:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/?p=10247"},"modified":"2021-10-02T11:26:28","modified_gmt":"2021-10-02T07:56:28","slug":"nasty-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/posts\/10247","title":{"rendered":"The MEK-made Nasty environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liberal in Richmond Hill faces smear campaign in bid for re-election<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Liberal MP Majid Jowhari is being fiercely targeted by online activists, trolls, and angry Liberal members in his own riding. What\u2019s behind the hate<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

Angry protesters showed up multiple times at Liberal MP Majid Jowhari\u2019s Richmond Hill constituency office last week, holding signs plastered with his picture that read, \u201cShame on You. You will not Re-elected\u201d and \u201cNO to Lobbyist of Islamic Terrorist Regime in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, local residents received cryptic emails from a former Liberal politician, Reza Moridi, saying he and three other former Liberals are \u201cunable\u201d to vote for Jowhari. The email offered no explanation for the statement.<\/p>\n

Still other voters that had placed Jowhari campaign signs in front of their homes reported finding papers dropped on their lawn or placed on car windshields. The documents, obtained by Ricochet, are titled \u201cA Better Introduction to Mr Jowhari\u2019s Family\u201d and slander his wife, mother and brothers, suggesting they are connected to international drug business and other criminal activities.<\/p>\n

\"Majid

ICC Condemns Foreign-Linked Smear Campaign Against Richmond Hill MP<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

And on Thursday, a highly followed but fake Twitter account associated with the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK), a cult-like group from Iran that has a history of engaging with Canadian politicians, added to an ongoing online smear campaign against Jowhari by tweeting a long thread urging Canadians to unseat him.<\/p>\n

Sources close to the Jowhari family and campaign told Ricochet it\u2019s been a \u201chorrible\u201d time for the family and that they often feel unsafe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey [his critics] have painted him as the complete opposite of everything he stands for. It\u2019s not even remotely close to who he is,\u201d said one source who asked not to be identified due to fear of being targeted themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all sophisticated and interrelated,\u201d they added. \u201cI\u2019ve had to contact police before. People don\u2019t understand that fake news can actually kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jowhari\u2019s most vocal offline critic, Reza Moridi, is a former Liberal MPP for Richmond Hill and former Ontario minister of research, innovation and science. He denies there\u2019s a smear campaign against Jowhari. \u201cIt\u2019s not an attack or targeting,\u201d Moridi told Ricochet last Friday, in reference to the cryptic email he had sent to local residents on Oct. 9. \u201cIt\u2019s a reverse endorsement, that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The email sent to local residents included photos of Moridi and three others: Bryon Wilfert, former Liberal MP for Richmond Hill; Sarkis Assadourian, former Liberal MP for Brampton Centre; and Richard Rupp, former president of the Richmond Hill Federal Liberal Association. Above the photos, a single line read: \u201cAs concerned Richmond Hill Liberals we regret that on October 21, we are unable to vote for Majid Jowhari, the Liberal Candidate in Richmond Hill.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked why he decided to send the email to voters, particularly without an explanation of why he and the others were \u201cunable\u201d to vote for Jowhari, Moridi said, \u201cThese are Liberal MPs and also two former Liberal riding presidents. We came to the conclusion that we cannot support him. People can make their own decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe reviewed media reports over the past four years and also records of the candidate. I\u2019m sure every voter is doing their own research of the candidates. We\u2019re just saying we did that research and came to that conclusion. Coming to that decision is not difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Jowhari\u2019s office posted a response on his Facebook page the next day: \u201cThis communication represents the worst type of campaign tactics – a non-specific note from a group who do not have the courage of their convictions to say what party and policies they do support but are prepared to say only what they don\u2019t support without providing any rationale or substantiation.\u201d<\/p>\n

But voters were met with another shock a few days later when the Shahrvand, a Farsi-language newspaper, came out with Moridi\u2019s photo splashed on the front page, along with a proclamation of his support for Richmond Hill\u2019s Conservative candidate, Costas Menegakis. The idea that a former Liberal leader was overtly canvassing for voters in his riding to vote blue sparked coverage in conservative outlets The Toronto Sun and Rebel Media.<\/p>\n

Soon after, 100 Liberal members and supporters sent a letter addressed to the Ontario Liberal Party requesting that the party leadership publicly reject Moridi\u2019s endorsement. Former Ontario premier and current MPP Kathleen Wynne put out a statement on Moridi’s decision to endorse a Conservative candidate in Richmond Hill. \u201cAs you know, Reza Moridi has been a trusted colleague of mine for a number of years,\u201d she wrote. \u201cHaving said that, Reza is no longer a member of the provincial legislature nor does he speak for the Liberal Party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jowhari\u2019s office declined to comment for this story, saying they wanted to stay focused on his campaign and local residents. \u201cWe are not focused on the negative voices that are out there in the wilderness,\u201d Jowhari\u2019s campaign manager Michele Bussieres told Ricochet.
\nCanada-Iran ties<\/p>\n

The long-term rift between the two Iranian politicians stems from their ideas around Canada-Iran relations, with Jowhari advocating for a normalization in ties, while Moridi argues Iran should be kept at a distance. Moridi and other critics interpret Jowhari\u2019s position as support and endorsement for the theocratic regime.<\/p>\n

When questioned by reporters last week, Jowhari said the accusations of his support for Tehran have no foundation. \u201cOur government promised in 2015 that we will keep the dialogue open. \u2026 We will establish a relationship with our eyes wide open and step by step,\u201d he said. \u201cThat hasn\u2019t changed. We want to make sure that we encourage diplomacy based on a proven and deliberate track record from both sides, especially on the Iranian side.<\/p>\n

\u201cDialogue also doesn\u2019t mean appeasement,\u201d he added. \u201cWhen you talk and sit at a table, you can exchange ideas, whether it\u2019s on the issue of human rights, whether it\u2019s freedom of press or women. We need to sit at the table…. You cannot have a dialogue behind closed doors.\u201d<\/p>\n

But some residents don\u2019t believe him. Salman Sima, a former political prisoner in Iran, is one of Jowhari\u2019s most vociferous critics on Twitter, having previously called him a foreign agent and a representative for Ayatollah Khamenei in the Canadian Parliament. Sima stands accused of starting a smear campaign against Saman Tabasinejad, an Iranian-Canadian NDP candidate in Ontario\u2019s last provincial elections, calling her the granddaughter of a major cleric in Iran. Tabasinejad later debunked this rumour on Twitter.<\/p>\n

Sima joined several other critics protesting when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited a Richmond Hill coffee shop on Oct. 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that Mr Jowhari doesn\u2019t follow Liberal and Canadian values, including respecting human rights, respecting women\u2019s rights and respecting LGBT rights,\u201d he told Ricochet. \u201cWhy? Because we know and I believe that he is supporting one of the most misogynistic regimes in the world \u2014 the Islamic regime in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sima said the staged protests were non-partisan and unlinked to any political Iranian opposition groups, including MEK.<\/p>\n

\u201cI write lots of things criticizing some opposition groups, including MEK,\u201d<\/strong> he said, adding he knew many residents who voted for the NDP and Liberal their whole lives but were strongly opposed to Jowhari. \u201cLinking the protests against Majid Jowhari to MEK or any political parties is not fair because I know that lots of people come from lots of different ideas and backgrounds.\u201d
\n\u201cThey are using the same tactics that the Iranian regime is using\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/dlb.nejatngo.org\/Media\/Report\/RT_Alavi_MEK.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

Regardless, it\u2019s clear Jowhari is being watched. On Thursday, the \u201cHeshmat Alavi\u201d Twitter account tweeted a 17-post thread \u201cshedding light on Jowhari being a Tehran apologist\/lobbyist.\u201d An investigation by The Intercept last June found the account was created by MEK, which is supported by Washington.<\/p>\n

Also that week, Hassan Dai, an editor at the Iranian-American Forum website, urged Richmond Hill residents to vote against Jowhari in a tweet to his 11,000 followers.<\/p>\n

Messages sent by Ricochet to both accounts on Oct. 17 requesting an interview and proof of the accusations levelled against Jowhari were not responded to by publication date.<\/p>\n

\u2018Nasty environment\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Iranian supporters of Jowhari\u2019s campaign say they are particularly incensed over accusations that Jowhari and the Liberal Party are stooges of the government in Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are using the same tactics that the Iranian regime is using \u2014 they\u2019re claiming they\u2019re against that but they\u2019re doing the same thing here,\u201d said a supporter of Jowhari\u2019s campaign who did not want to be named out of safety concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re using all the resources they have to accuse and lie \u2026 they put our pictures up on Facebook and label us. This has led to a really nasty environment. We didn\u2019t come here to be accused of being a lobby for another country or government. We came here to be contributing members of a democratic society.\u201d<\/p>\n

For her, the fight to keep a government in power who is open to dialogue with Iran is personal. \u201cI have a friend who has cancer and no access to medications because of the sanctions. When Moridi ran a long time ago, I was one of his big supporters. We donated and helped, and I was so proud that an Iranian had come to power and could speak for us. But then he started to support sanctions on Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

She pauses. \u201cThis is my country. But I can\u2019t love Canada if I can\u2019t love the country I come from. I have my best wishes for the people in Canada and I have the same wishes for the people in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ricochet.media<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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