Ottawa says Canadian national killed by Iranian authorities

Canada has stated that one of its citizens was killed in Iran by Iranian authorities, a development confirmed on January 15 by Foreign Minister Anita Anand. 

In her statement on X, Anand noted that Canadian consular officials are in contact with the victim’s family and expressed her condolences, Caliber.Az reports.

I have just learned that a Canadian citizen has died in Iran at the hands of the Iranian authorities. Our consular officials are in contact with the victim’s family in Canada and my deepest condolences are with them at this time. Peaceful protests by the Iranian people - asking…

— Anita Anand (@AnitaAnandMP) January 15, 2026

She condemned the actions of the Iranian authorities, linking the death to the broader pattern of repression against peaceful demonstrators. According to her, Iranians calling for their voices to be heard in the face of persistent human rights violations have been met with excessive force. “This violence must end. Canada condemns and calls for an immediate end to the Iranian regime’s violence,” she wrote.

Her statement comes against the backdrop of nearly three weeks of large-scale protests sweeping across Iran, widely described as the most significant unrest in a decade. Media outlets have reported more than 2,000 fatalities, a figure that Iran’s vice president, Ahmad Musavi, has also acknowledged. The US-based human rights organisation HRANA has said that, based on its data, the death toll has already exceeded 2,500.

US media, citing multiple sources including one inside Iran, have provided even higher estimates. Activist groups gathering information from hospitals and medical personnel now believe the number of deaths is at least 12,000, with some assessments suggesting 20,000 or more. These figures have not been independently verified, and the sources emphasised that severe communication restrictions imposed by Iranian authorities likely lead to significant underreporting.

The wave of unrest began after a sharp collapse in the national currency’s value, but it quickly evolved into widespread political protests calling for the government’s removal.

By Tamilla Hasanova