A member of law enforcement personnel works at the scene outside the US Consulate after shots were fired, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 10, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. Photo: REUTERS/Kyaw Soe Oo

An Ontario court has ordered the Iranian regime to pay more than $560 million to a Canadian citizen who was tortured in Iran decades ago, marking one of the largest civil awards ever issued in the country.

In a Thursday ruling, Canadian authorities found the Iranian regime must pay 5 percent annual interest on previously awarded damages to victim Zahed Haftlang, who fled to Canada in 2001 after enduring two years of torture in an Iranian prison.

Because the abuse dates back to 1990, 36 years of accrued interest adds an additional $360 million to the original award, bringing the total owed to Haftlang to $560 million — an amount that may be the largest ever granted by a Canadian civil court to an individual.

Once a child soldier during the Iran-Iraq War, Haftlang was captured in 1990 and, after being returned to Iran, endured repeated abuse amid growing suspicion from authorities.

“They labeled him an ‘infidel’ and tortured him in an effort to force loyalty to the Supreme Leader,” court documents said.

Last month, the Ontario court ruled that Iran was legally responsible for Haftlang’s abuse, finding that the torture was driven by political, religious, and ideological motives — falling under the definition of terrorism under Canadian law.

The judge determined that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), operating under the authority of the Supreme Leader, carried out the acts of torture at the center of the case.

With this decision, Iran was also denied the protection of sovereign immunity, the legal doctrine that normally shields foreign states from civil suits in Canadian courts.

Iranian authorities will reportedly be served the judgment via email to the Supreme Leader’s office, with officials noting that if the regime fails to pay, the amount will continue to accrue at 4 percent annually.

Under Canadian law, victims of terrorism-related abuses are permitted to seek compensation through the seizure of frozen Iranian assets held within Canada to satisfy court-ordered judgments.

Victims may also pursue Iranian state-linked assets abroad, including those tied to the regime and the IRGC, in an effort to enforce civil terrorism judgments across jurisdictions.

In a separate investigation involving Iranian-linked threats and Canadian counterterrorism efforts, a Toronto Police Service officer was shot and killed Thursday morning while executing a search warrant connected to a US consulate attack tied to an Iranian proxy network.

According to local law enforcement investigations, Hezbollah senior official Mohammad Bagher Saad Dawood al-Saadi is alleged to have orchestrated the March 10 consulate shooting as well as a separate attack on a synagogue in Toronto.

Al-Saadi, a senior figure within the Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah, a Shiite paramilitary group closely aligned with Iran’s IRGC, is accused of coordinating attacks in Europe and North America through the newly emerged terrorist group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya.

He had reportedly told an undercover law enforcement officer that his “people” were responsible for both attacks carried out in Canada.

US and European officials have repeatedly warned of a rising threat level across Western countries from pro-Iranian extremist groups, specifically citing the expanding activities of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya and signaling broader concerns about coordinated operations in Europe.

In recent weeks, Western security agencies have raised growing alarm that Tehran is increasingly turning to covert operatives, proxy networks, and criminal intermediaries to target dissidents, Jewish communities, and pro-Israel figures across Europe and North America.

Just in April, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya claimed responsibility for a wave of attacks across the UK, Germany, North Macedonia, Belgium, and the Netherlands, many of them concentrated in London.

Since emerging in early March, the group has taken credit for at least 15 attacks against Jewish and Western targets across Europe.