Monsef said she wanted to keep Iran trip 'hush-hush'

Despite finally being open about it on Tuesday, Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef wanted to keep her recent trip to Iran and Afghanistan “hush-hush,” according to an interview she did after returning to Canada in 2014.

In a YouTube interview with Mike Judson, dated December 6, 2014, Judson said “you had just done a visit back to Afghanistan, and it was kind of hush-hush.”

“Yeah,” replied Monsef.

“Do you still want that visit to remain hush-hush?” asked Judson.

“Sort of,” replied Monsef. “Not because of safety,” she said, although she didn’t explain why she wanted the trip to remain “hush-hush.”

Monsef said she was in Iran and planned to cross into Afghanistan by car. When they arrived at the border, however, the situation seemed unsafe.

“So we just did a U (turn),” said Monsef. “I got my passport stamped and got the visa stuff looked after, and just got back into the car and drove back.”

Instead, according to Monsef, she spent the next “two months or so” in Iran, from December 2013 until early 2014, staying with relatives and working with Afghan refugees in Iran.

Monsef claims she had no status in Iran, and that her family applied for asylum in Montreal. Typically, asylum seekers do not return to the country they fled. In fact, asylum is reserved for people who cannot return due to danger of persecution.

In the interview with Judson, Monsef also reveals that this was not her first time visiting Iran and Afghanistan since fleeing in 1996.

“I graduated from Trent (University) on June 3, 2010,” she said. “And on June 4th, I was on a plane.”

On that trip, too, Monsef tried to enter Afghanistan from Iran. “I didn’t get in that time either,” she said.

While Monsef discussed her travels in the region with Mike Judson before the election, she has been less willing to discuss the details now that she is part of Trudeau’s inner circle.

On October 16, 2016, more than ten days ago, I asked Monsef’s office what visa she used to travel to Iran, and where the visa was issued. Four days later, her office told me that Monsef is a citizen of Canada and Afghanistan and “is not, nor was she ever an Iranian citizen.”

They didn’t answer my question, nor did they respond to my follow up questions, but my column led to subsequent questions from other journalists.

Postmedia’s David Akin was finally told, several days after inquiring, that Monsef used an Afghan passport to enter Iran in 2014.

Monsef’s office told Akin that her “ultimate destination was Afghanistan” but that “she was unable to travel there due to terrorism and violence.”

“She briefly remained in Iran volunteering with the Afghan refugee community before returning to Canada,” wrote Monsef’s press secretary.

Briefly, I suppose, can mean “two months or so.” But the story still doesn’t add up, and the fact that it took Monsef so long to respond raises other questions.

When Monsef was appointed into Trudeau’s cabinet in late 2015, she was vetted by the RCMP and CSIS. One of the requirements for security clearance is to disclose all foreign travel within a ten-year period.

Did Monsef disclose her trips to Iran and Afghanistan? Was the Prime Minister’s Office aware of Monsef’s extensive travel history in the region, in 2010, 2013 and 2014? Did they know about her Afghan passport?

Or was the whole thing kept “hush-hush”?

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http://www.torontosun.com/2016/10/26/monsef-said-she-wanted-to-keep-iran-trip-hush-hush