A Canadian court today awarded $84 million (107 million Canadian dollars) to the heirs of six victims who were perished when Iranian forces shot down a passenger plane of Ukraine near Tehran in early 2020.
Mark Arnold announced the ruling on Monday and he vowed to go after Iranian assets in Canada and other countries to receive compensation announced by the Canadian court. Justice Edward Belobaba of Ontario’s Superior Court gave the ruling in a default judgement on December 31.
In Jan 2020, Iranian forces shot down Flight PS752 soon after it departed from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport. About 176 people on board, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents were killed in this attack.
The Iranian government has termed the incident a human error and said the plane was mistaken for a hostile target.
Importantly, a few hours before the flight was shot down, Iran’s military fired missiles on United States forces in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in a US strike ordered by then-President Donald Trump.
Following the crash, the victims’ countries – Canada, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Afghanistan – banded together to push for answers and accountability under the banner of the International Coordination and Response Group.
In Dec 2021, the group expressed frustration with Iran and accused Tehran of showing no interest in following its international legal obligations.
Therefore, the group set a January 5 deadline for the Iranians to confirm whether or not they are willing to engage in negotiations with the Coordination Group, after which we will have to assume that further attempts to negotiate with Tehran are futile.
