Maple Observer - North Vancouver MP says diplomatic sponsorships keep Iran’s detained activists in spotlight

International attention may not change how Iran treats its political prisoners, but it may keep individual political prisoners in the spotlight – and alive, says North Vancouver MP Jonathan Wilkinson.

Since 2023, Wilkinson has politically sponsored Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, who faced a death sentence for his protest songs against Iran’s regime. Salehi was charged with “spreading corruption on Earth” due to his support for the Women, Life, Freedom movement in Iran in 2022-23.

The death sentence, issued in April 2024 by an Islamic Revolutionary Court, sparked global outrage and condemnation from human-rights organizations, artists, and Iranian diaspora communities across Canada. After months of public pressure, the verdict was overturned in June 2024. Salehi was released from Isfahan’s Dastgerd Prison in December 2024 after serving a one-year sentence.

Since then, Wilkinson’s office has continued to monitor Salehi’s situation through trusted sources and social media.

Salehi was re-arrested last June and questioned for several hours on Kish Island before being released. He later confirmed his release in a short video posted on Instagram in Farsi, saying he had been interrogated about his continued artistic and social-media activity.

Wilkinson said the incident reinforces both the power and limits of international advocacy.

“Keeping his plight out in the open is helpful to maintain his freedom and possibly delay or prevent his sentencing,” Wilkinson said in an email.

“We hope to keep his name in the news when possible, and to closely monitor what the regime’s reactions are towards Toomaj and other detainees.”

Salehi’s brief re-arrest and renewed prosecution highlight how the Islamic Republic continues to target artists and cultural figures even after international scrutiny, Wilkinson said.

“We are aware that the situation for detainees has not improved — in fact, abuse has escalated. Those imprisoned are denied due process and have no sense of when they may be released.”

While Wilkinson concedes that his efforts have not fundamentally altered the regime’s justice system, he believes diplomatic sponsorships still matter.

“None of this inspires confidence that our sponsorship has made an overall difference. But if our attention keeps them alive, that’s a positive outcome.”

Wilkinson’s office also sponsors Dr. Hamid and Farzaneh Ghare-Hassanlou, a physician and his wife arrested during protests in Karaj; and Mohammad Rakhshani, a Baluchi youth detained at age 16 with his brother.

“We’ve had all of the B.C. Liberal MPs sponsor people detained in the aftermath of Mahsa Amini’s death,” Wilkinson said.

Mahsa Amini, 22, died in custody following her arrest in Tehran by morality police on Sept. 16, 2022. The Women, Life, Freedom movement began after her death and since then, Iran has intensified repression of dissent while executions have surged. At least 537 people have been killed and 22,000 arrested, according to human rights monitors.

Amnesty International documented at least 853 executions in 2023, an eight-year high, and the U.N. reported more than 900 executions in 2024, prompting international alarm. Activists, journalists and artists continue to face arrests, harsh sentences and intimidation.

Wilkinson said his office regularly receives updates from activist groups and government ministries on the status of political detainees in Iran. They are informed of ongoing abuses including torture, sexual assault, and arbitrary sentencing, which he says have worsened over the past year.

“We are kept informed of the numbers of executions that are taking place, and which seem to be increasing. We know that those still in prison are living under atrocious conditions.”

While the Canadian government has imposed some of the world’s most far-reaching sanctions on regime officials, Wilkinson says political sponsorships serve a different function — they personalize injustice.

He acknowledged that such efforts cannot reform authoritarian systems overnight but argued that naming, documenting and sharing these stories remains a moral imperative.

“Diplomatic sponsorship may not change the system, but it can change outcomes — one life at a time.”