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“Those who spread these slanderous and baseless accusations want to instigate hate and fear without providing a single fact to support it,” said Jowhari in a statement. “We should stand together against this hateful behaviour.”

Senator Linda Frum said the accusations warrant closer scrutiny and she would like to hear from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on what he makes of Jowhari’s actions.

“I would like to hear from the prime minister what the story is, with an MP who seems to take a position that is supportive of the Islamic regime of Iran and is not aligned with Canadian values.”

Frum said Jowhari has been silent on the regime, despite having a large Iranian population in his riding and that has continued through recent violent protests in the country.

“There have been demonstrations in Iran in which hundreds of people have been murdered and he has never said a word about that.”

Photo by AFP via Getty Images

Jowhari has been criticized for his actions supporting Iran before. He presented a petition in the House of Commons calling on the government to re-establish diplomatic relations with Tehran, which was part of the Liberal platform in 2015.

He also met with members of the Iranian parliament visiting Canada in 2016.

Jowhari told yorkregion.com, a local news website, that the Iranians wanted to meet with him “as a parliamentarian with a significant diaspora.”

And he said meeting with someone is not the same as working with them.

“It just means we are sitting at the same table and working on understanding the issues and we as Canadians have serious concerns. If we don’t tell them, who will?” he said to the local news website.