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In 2004, Canadian border officials loaded Ashkan Forsat on a plane to Tehran, thinking they had finally rid themselves of the 26-year-old Iranian who had been holding up convenience stores almost from the moment he set foot in Canada.

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Nine years later, Forsat is still in Canada, his rap sheet keeps getting longer, and immigration officials are still trying to figure out how to get rid of a man that Iran refuses to take back.

“You pressed your nose against the door of the airport in Tehran [and were rejected],” Immigration and Refugee Board commissioner Louis Dubé said during a 2004 hearing, three days after Iran inexplicably sent Forsat’s plane back to Canada.

Forsat had been bundled off to Iran under a deportation order prompted by his “serious criminality.” Born in Iran in 1978, his family came to Canada a decade later as refugees and were granted permanent-resident status. By 19, Forsat had already worn out his welcome with a string of crimes, including a violent armed robbery.

He is currently in a Quebec detention centre, charged with breaking into a home 55 kilometres north of Montreal and assaulting a woman only six weeks after he was released into the custody of a friend.

Iran never explicitly stated why it refused Forsat in 2004 — and why it continues to refuse him — although Mr. Dubé said he suspected politics were behind Iran’s actions.