UK, Canada, Sweden, Ukraine take Iran to UN court over downed Ukrainian plane
Some four countries whose citizens died in the fatal shooting of a Ukrainian airline in Iran have jointly dragged the Islamic country to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to seek compensation for the families of the victims.
The United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden and Ukraine launched the case against Iran at the United Nations’ highest court after observing that Iran has done very little to address circumstances and fallouts of the military blunder which led to the deaths of all 176 passengers and crew of the airline. They also alleged that Iran declined a request for arbitration.
The four countries specifically want the International Court of Justice to rule that Iran illegally shot down the Ukraine International Airlines plane and to order Tehran to apologize and pay compensation to the families of the victims.
The Oracle Today recalls that Iranian armed forces hysterically shot down the airline early in 2020 following a separate and unrelated spat with the United States. It also denied responsibility on the attack until United States intelligence units produced satellite images detailing the attack.
The downing happened on the same day Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on U.S. troops in Iraq in retaliation for an American drone strike that killed a top Iranian general.
Flight PS752 was traveling from Tehran to Kyiv on Jan. 8, 2020 when it was shot down soon after takeoff. The people killed included nationals and residents of Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, as well as Afghanistan and Iran. Their ages ranged from 1 year to 74 years old.
“Today’s legal action reflects our unwavering commitment to achieving transparency, justice and accountability for the families of the victims,” the countries said in a joint statement.
Following three days of denials in January 2020, Iran said an air defense operator in its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard mistook the Boeing 737-800 for an American cruise missile and then hit it with two surface-to-air missiles.
In their court filing, the four countries argue that Iran failed to take all practicable measures to prevent the unlawful and intentional commission of an offence and also failed to conduct an impartial, transparent, and fair criminal investigation and prosecution consistent with international law.
They allege that Iran withheld or destroyed evidence, blamed other countries and low level Revolutionary Guard personnel, “threatened and harassed the families of the victims seeking justice” and failed to report details of the incident to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
In a separate but related case, Iran filed a case accusing Canada of flouting state immunity in allowing relatives of terrorism victims to seek reparations from the Islamic Republic.
