Canada said to foil Iranian plot to assassinate renowned Jewish jurist Irwin Cotler

Canadian authorities have foiled an Iranian attempt to assassinate renowned Jewish jurist Irwin Cotler, a former Canadian justice minister and attorney general, the Globe and Mail reports.

Citing an anonymous source, the report says Cotler was informed in late October that he faced imminent threat of assassination within 48 hours from Iranian agents.

The source said Royal Canadian Mounted Police had been tracking two suspects, but could not say if they had been detained or had left the country.

The source tells the paper that Cotler was informed last week that the threat had now been significantly lowered, without giving further details.

Cotler is recognized as an expert on matters of free speech, freedom of religion, minority rights, peace law and war crimes justice. He has close ties to Israel.

According to the report, Cotler has been under 24/7 RCMP protection since the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.

The measures include armed guards and armored vehicles.

The report notes that Cotler has raised the ire of the regime in Tehran since 2008 over his efforts to have the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared a terrorist organization.

The report also says that the threats could be linked to a Tehran plot to kidnap and assassinate an Iranian-American journalist in New York. Cotler was told by the FBI that his name came up in its probe, the report says.