The Canadian authorities have charged two people with murder in the death of an activist who spoke out against the Iranian regime, in what the police described on Saturday as a “targeted incident” involving people who were connected on social media.
The remains of Masood Masjoody, 45, a former university math instructor, were found about a week ago in Mission, British Columbia. Officials had launched an investigation into his disappearance in early February after his neighbors in Burnaby, British Columbia, raised concerns.
On Saturday, the police announced they had arrested a man and a woman, Mehdi Ahmadzadeh Razavi, 48, from Maple Ridge, British Columbia, and Arezou Soltani, 45, from North Vancouver, in the same province. Both were charged with one count of first-degree murder, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, a branch of the police, said in a statement.
“While the motive is still under investigation, we can say the victim and the two accused were known to each other and that this was a targeted incident,” Freda Fong, the department’s spokeswoman, said at a news conference.
Public records show that the three people had continuing disputes and exchanges on social media, but it was unclear if those played a role in the killing, Ms. Fong said. She added that neither Mr. Ahmadzadeh Razavi nor Ms. Soltani had a criminal record in Canada, and had limited prior interactions with the police.
Mr. Masjoody was a critic of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and served as a board member of the Iran Front for the Revival of Law and National Sovereignty, an anti-regime activist group active in Europe and elsewhere.
In early February, the group released a statement expressing concerns about his disappearance, describing him as someone who had devoted years to exposing “influence and intimidation networks linked to the Islamic Republic within the host countries of Iranian communities.”
In recent years, Mr. Masjoody had also filed a number of lawsuits against parties, including the university where he had previously taught, the social media company X and Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah of Iran who lives in the United States and has sought to position himself as an counterweight to the Islamic Republic.
Court records show that Mr. Masjoody lost his job at Simon Fraser University because of instances of professional misconduct, including using an alternate grading system and publicly accusing staff members of providing a “safe haven for Islamic Republic thugs.”
In another lawsuit, Ms. Masjoody accused Mr. Pahlavi, X and others of facilitating a social media defamation campaign against him. Last year, a judge found that some of his lawsuits were “vexatious.”