Vancouver activist appears on Iranian TV months after rally arrest

A B.C. activist has appeared on Iranian state television months after an investigation into hate speech during a Vancouver rally.

Charlotte Kates, the international co-ordinator for Samidoun, appeared on Iranian TV this month. She is said to have been in Tehran to accept an Islamic Human Rights and Human Dignity Award.

According to the group Samidoun, Kates was one of several international figures honoured on Aug. 4.

Kates spoke to Iranian newscasters about her arrest in Vancouver following statements she made during a pro-Palestinian rally outside of the Vancouver Art Gallery this spring. At the event, she called the Hamas members who attacked Israeli civilians and took hostages last Oct. 7 “resistance fighters” and “heroes” while also chanting “long live Oct. 7.”

The terrorist attack killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, setting off Israel's offensive in Gaza, which the local Health Ministry recently said has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians.

CTV News has reached out to Samidoun for a comment and an interview with Kates, but has yet to hear back.

Iranian international English journalist Negar Mojtahedi has been following Kates’ trip to Tehran and says a few attendees of the award ceremony should raise eyebrows.

“The keynote speaker of that award ceremony was a man named Mohseni Ejei,” said Mojtahedi via Zoom.

“He is a very high-level official, a very conservative hardliner, and head of Iran’s judiciary.”

She went on to explain that this is the same judiciary that is responsible for imprisoning more than 20,000 women who protested the death of Mahsa Amini.

On Sept. 13, 2022, Amini was arrested by Iran’s so-called “morality police” for not wearing her hijab properly. She died three days later.

Her death sparked weeks of nationwide protests in Iran and supporting demonstrations around the world. While authorities said she suffered a heart attack, Amini's supporters believe she was beaten by police and died as a result of her injuries.

In June, Canada announced it will list Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces – as a terrorist group.

Dalhousie University Professor Robert Huish has been researching activism and social justice for two decades while also studying adversaries of the Western world and their political tactics.

“When you're getting praise and awards from other governments for saying things that are considered hateful by other governments, you've gone beyond just activism in terms of raising awareness for a cause or trying to advocate a point,” said Huish.

"You're now facilitating another country’s agenda."

Huish went on to say that if there is evidence that someone is using public forums to project hate speech to instill harm on individuals or communities, that is a federal offence, and prosecution could follow.

Samidoun has said that Kates was briefly detained by police before being released on conditions, including that she not attend any “protests, rallies or assemblies,” until a court date on Oct. 8.

In a statement to CTV News, the BC Prosecution Service confirmed that it had received a report to Crown counsel in relation to Kates and is reviewing it for charges, but was unable to provide a timeline for when a decision on whether to lay charges would be made.