SURREY — A British Columbia mathematician who was reported missing last month by concerned neighbours was allegedly killed in a “targeted” incident by two people known to him who now face murder charges, police say.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, which is comprised of officers from the RCMP and a number of municipal police forces, said Saturday that the body of Masood Masjoody was found in Mission, B.C., on March 6 and two people have been arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
Masjoody was a former PhD student and math instructor at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby B.C., and he was declared a “vexatious litigant” by the B.C. Court of Appeal last year.
He filed several lawsuits that have accused academics, legal figures and journalists of defamation, including Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah of Iran.
Police said Mehdi Ahmadzadeh Razavi, 48, of Maple Ridge and Arezou Soltani, 45, of North Vancouver are in custody after being arrested Friday, and are expected in court on Monday.
Sgt. Freda Fong said Masjoody’s death was “a targeted incident” and that he and the accused had “ongoing disputes that we’re aware of as well as some exchanges on social media.”
“Whether or not that forms a motive of the homicide, it is still under investigation,” Fong said at a news conference Saturday in Surrey, B.C., at B.C. RCMP headquarters.
Court records in B.C. show Masjoody filed several lawsuits in recent years, including actions that named the two people now accused of his murder.
RCMP in Burnaby said last month that officers were investigating after “concerned neighbours” reported Masjoody missing, and Mounties determined that “criminality was involved” in his disappearance.
Police said Saturday that investigators pieced together a timeline leading up to him going missing and found evidence that he was the victim of a homicide.
They said an extensive search involving multiple police units including police dogs and Mission Search and Rescue assisted in the search that located Masjoody’s remains.
Fong said the accused don’t have criminal records in Canada and had “limited” interactions with police, but she couldn’t confirm whether they’re foreign nationals and wouldn’t reveal where in Mission that Masjoody’s remains were found.
The Conservative Party of Canada said in a statement last week that Masjoody was a critic of the Iranian regime, and his disappearance “has only fuelled fears among other critics and the diaspora community that Tehran was involved.”
Pahlavi, the late Shah’s son, filed an affidavit B.C. Supreme Court last November, after learning that Masjoody had won a default judgment against him in a defamation action.
Pahlavi’s affidavit said he resides in Maryland and his address is “confidential for security reasons,” and claims he didn’t know about the lawsuit filed against him in B.C. until after the default judgment was granted.
Pahlavi said he didn’t know Masjoody, and had no affiliation with online accounts or any other defendants as alleged in the lawsuit.
“I have never published anything about the plaintiff Masood Masjoody as alleged,” Pahlavi’s affidavit said. “I specifically deny each and every allegation of misconduct made about me.”
Pahlavi’s affidavit said he has no involvement in any “publication of defamatory or harassing content” that Masjoody alleged was targeted towards him.
Fong said the case sparked an outpouring of concern in the Iranian community.
“We understand this case has impacted the Iranian community and understandably so, and we must thank them for coming forward,” she said. “A fulsome investigation is ongoing into everyone’s backgrounds and whether or not there are relations, if any, to any organization.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2025.
Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press
