Irwin Cotler, Former Canadian Justice Minister, Under 24-Hour Police Protection Amid Threat to His Life According to the Globe and Mail
Former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler, a prominent human rights advocate, is currently under 24-hour police protection due to a credible threat against his life, according to two undisclosed sources.
The Globe and Mail, a Canadian news outlet and first to report on the story, could not ascertain the identity of the individual, organization, or country responsible for the threat, and the sources remain anonymous.
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Cotler has a long history of criticizing various foreign governments. His concerns include Iran’s involvement in the shooting-down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 in 2020 and its support for Hamas, which is designated as a terror group by the Canadian government.
Cotler, a former Montreal MP and international human rights lawyer, served as Canada’s special envoy on Holocaust remembrance and combatting antisemitism from 2020 to 2023. In a recent column, he highlighted the challenges posed by authoritarian regimes, including Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, describing them as a new authoritarian ‘axis of evil’ engaged in actions like electoral interference and the spreading of disinformation.
The security threat to Cotler follows a pattern of similar incidents involving individuals critical of foreign governments. For instance, Ottawa believes the Indian government was involved in the killing of Canadian Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an advocate for Punjab’s secession from India, in June 2023.
Cotler founded the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights in 2015 and has been actively promoting human rights and combating injustice worldwide. In his recent column, he emphasized the global struggle between liberal democracies and repressive autocrats, characterizing it as an assault on the rules-based international order.
