Killing of Iranian activist in Canada exposes increasingly bitter divisions within the diaspora

NEW YORK (AP) — Masood Masjoody had a long history of firing accusations at those he considered adversaries. So when he claimed on social media last fall that two fellow Iran-born activists were plotting to kill him, it did not get much notice.

Then the mathematician disappeared in early February. By mid-March, police in British Columbia had found his body and brought first-degree murder charges against the pair Masjoody said were after him.

It was startling news for Iranians outside the country, particularly those who oppose both its government and a campaign to make the son of its former king Iran's next leader. Days after Masjoody disappeared, 10 other outspoken diaspora figures, most of them critics of the monarchist campaign or the war with Iran, were tagged in an ominous message on the social platform X.

“Soon you’ll have to find the corpses of many,” it warned.

The post, written in Farsi and topped by a knife emoji, came from a since-deactivated account named for the SAVAK, the feared secret police once used by the monarchy to crack down on dissent.

The case has added to tensions in a diaspora divided over the war and who should lead the country if its government falls. Recipients of that threat and others blame the influential movement led by the exiled crown prince who supports the war launched by the U.S. and Israel. The pair charged with killing Masjoody opposed the Iranian government and backed the monarchist movement in online posts.

Supporters of Reza Pahlavi, son of the shah deposed in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, deny the campaign's responsibility for such threats and accuse government agents of posing as activists online. Iran’s government also has a long history of targeting dissidents abroad.

Anti-war activists and those who oppose Pahlavi describe a climate of fear that has led some to notify police and change their routines.

Nik Kowsar, one of those tagged in the post, said he had long received negative messages on social media, blocking accounts to prevent intimidation.

“But this one gave me chills,” said Kowsar, who was jailed in Iran in 2000 over a cartoon satirizing a leading cleric and now lives in Washington, D.C. Once an unpaid adviser to Pahlavi, he has become an outspoken critic, accusing monarchists of seeking to replace one form of authoritarian rule with another.

Similar threats have since been made against other Iranian activists.

Pahlavi's profile has risen but his popularity is unclear

It is difficult to gauge Pahlavi's support inside or outside Iran.

His call for protests in January brought hundreds of thousands into the streets in the largest demonstrations in years. The government launched a fierce crackdown, killing thousands of people and detaining tens of thousands.

Pahlavi, who lives in Maryland, says he is ready to assume power and lead a democratic transition once the theocracy is overthrown. But that scenario has appeared increasingly unlikely as Iran has weathered weeks of attacks and now a naval blockade, with no sign of a popular uprising since the war began.

The diaspora has grown increasingly polarized as the monarchist movement becomes more “radicalized, more entrenched and more coordinated,” said Sahar Razavi, director of the Iranian and Middle East Studies Center at California State University, Sacramento.

“They demand unity of voice and purity of politics and anyone who falls short of that is not just their rival but their enemy that has to be vanquished,” said Razavi, whose center added security at events after she was harassed for hosting a journalist some accused of being allied with Iran's government.

A spokesman for the National Union for Democracy in Iran, which is closely aligned with Pahlavi, said the exiled prince had “consistently called for civility in public discourse” and that the movement is not responsible for hostility toward opponents.

“The prince has, by any estimate, millions of followers. He cannot be reasonably held responsible for the comments of all of them,” the group's policy director, Andrew Ghalili, said in an email. “Second, the Islamic Republic has a history of posing as opposition supporters online to discredit them.”

Activists have notified authorities

Two other activists tagged in the X post said they had reported it to police and altered their routines to stay safe.

“With the latest threat after that Canadian Iranian activist disappeared, I’ll be honest with you, I freaked out,” said Alireza Nader, a security analyst in Washington, D.C. Nader, who once backed Pahlavi but is now a vocal critic, said he now avoid protests and other public events.

Other diaspora activists say they or their groups have also received worrisome threats.

Chicago activist Ali Tarokh said he received a call in March from a number he recognized as belonging to a fellow Iranian immigrant. Tarokh said the caller accused him of being an agent of the Iranian government and threatened to “go after” him. He notified police and has asked a judge to issue a restraining order against the caller.

Tarokh has criticized supporters of the war, noting its toll on ordinary Iranians, and has continued to speak at peace rallies despite the threat.

“It doesn’t matter if you tell them, ‘I agree with you, the regime has to go, but I disagree with your approach.’ There is zero tolerance,” said Tarokh, who was jailed for his work as a student activist in Iran and was granted political asylum in the U.S. 12 years ago.

It's not always clear who is making the threats

The National Iranian American Council, which advocates for U.S. diplomacy with Iran, has also seen a rise in threats.

In January, staffers received an email warning they would be “responsible for all loss of lives” if they proceeded with an anti-war forum in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Organizers reported the email to law enforcement before moving the event online, said Etan Mabourakh, NIAC’s organizing manager.

A second message directed at the group's president threatened to “leave your body in the water” if panel speakers did not condemn Iran's leaders.

Some threat recipients blame Pahlavi supporters for hostile language online. But with Iran, Israel, the U.S. and various opposition groups eager to advance narratives about the war and diaspora politics, it’s not always clear if online accounts are who they say they are.

“I have to believe that a lot of the things that we see online are not created by authentic users. But that’s not very comforting when we see people we know in real life sharing or repeating them,” said Amy Malek, a William & Mary professor whose research focuses on the Iranian diaspora.

Canadian case sparks deeper fears

Kowsar said that days before Masjoody went missing, they discussed a harassment suit the latter was pursuing against Pahlavi supporters.

Masjoody filed more than half a dozen suits since 2014, with a Canadian judge last year labeling him a “vexatious litigant.” Defendants in the final lawsuit included one later charged with his murder, as well as Pahlavi himself. In a court filing last fall, Pahlavi said he did not know Masjoody and denied the allegations.

Another recipient of the message on X, Kambiz Ghafouri, said he had long been wary of retaliation by Iran's government, even after living in Finland for 20 years. Threats that appear to come from within the diaspora have deepened those fears, he said.

“Our lives were like hell every day in Iran,” he said.

“But recently, especially after the death of Masood, who was my friend, we feel unsafe here.”

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AP writer Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta contributed to this story.