Canadian authorities have arrested and charged two men in connection with the “targeted” murder of an activist who spoke out against the Iranian regime.
Police launched a search for Masood Masjoody, a 45-year-old resident of Burnaby, British Columbia, on February 2, after receiving reports from his concerned neighbors, according to a statement from Canada’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.
His remains were found in Mission, British Columbia, about a month later.
Now, investigators have arrested 48-year-old Mehdi Ahmadzadeh Razavi and 45-year-old Arezou Soltani, The Independent has confirmed. The two men are each facing one count of first-degree murder.
“We understand this case has impacted the Iranian community and has generated widespread concern and public interest. While the motive is still under investigation, we can say the victim and two accused were known to each other,” Freda Fong, a spokesperson for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said in a statement shared with The Independent.
“The laying of first-degree murder charges marks a significant milestone and reflects the hard work undertaken over the past several weeks; however, much work remains as the prosecution process begins,” she added.
Fong told reporters the two men knew Masjoody and had previously argued with him on social media, according to The New York Times. It’s unclear if those disputes played a role in his death, she added.
Investigators said the two men do not have prior criminal convictions in Canada, the CBC reports. They’re expected to appear in court Monday.
It’s unclear if Razavi and Soltani have obtained attorneys. The Independent was unable to identify their attorneys for comment.
Masjoody was known for his “online presence” and work as a mathematician, investigators said in a statement last month.
The activist was an outspoken critic of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and reportedly affiliated with the Iran Front for the Revival of Law and National Sovereignty, an organization that advocates against the Iranian regime.
Masjoody “ultimately became a victim of the very phenomenon about which he consistently warned: lawlessness, political violence, and a totalitarian mindset that resorts to intimidation and elimination instead of accountability before the law,” the group said in a statement Sunday.
The group alleges that his death is part of a premeditated “circle killing” that is “carried out within dangerous networks, the very networks about which Dr. Masjoody repeatedly warned during his lifetime.”
“From this perspective, the legal and judicial responsibility for this criminal act cannot be limited solely to the direct perpetrators, but may also extend to instigators, organizers, and others who played a role in the development of this process,” the group added.
The group has urged for a broader investigation into “defamation, intimidation and elimination aimed at silencing dissenting voices by any possible means.”
News of Masjoody’s death comes less than two months after Brooklyn resident Carlisle Rivera was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in a plot to kill Masih Alinejad, an Iranian American journalist and human rights activist.
Rivera was arrested in November 2024, before he could carry out the “murder-for-hire” plot, which was “directed by the Government of Iran,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
During the hearing, Alinejad and her husband explained that they were forced to repeatedly move homes and limit interactions with their kids because of the assassination plots against them, the Associated Press reports.
“I’m just a woman,” she said. “My weapon is my voice. My weapon is my social media.”
