Default judgement comes as Iran insists airplane was downed close to Tehran in error in 2020 amid navy tensions with US.
A Canadian courtroom has awarded $84m (107m Canadian {dollars}) to the households of six victims who have been killed when Iranian forces shot down a Ukraine Worldwide Airways flight close to Tehran in early 2020.
Mark Arnold, a lawyer for the victims, introduced the ruling on Monday, vowing to go after Iranian property in Canada and overseas to acquire the judgement. Justice Edward Belobaba of Ontario’s Superior Courtroom had issued the ruling in a default judgement on December 31.
Iranian forces shot down Flight PS752 after it took off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Worldwide Airport on January 8, 2020, killing all 176 individuals on board, together with 55 Canadian residents and 30 everlasting residents.
The Iranian authorities blamed the incident on “human error”, saying that the airplane was mistaken for a “hostile goal” in a “disastrous mistake“.
Hours earlier than the flight was shot down, Iran’s navy fired missiles on United States forces in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of prime Iranian Basic Qassem Soleimani in a US strike ordered by then-President Donald Trump.
Following the crash, the victims’ international locations – Canada, Ukraine, the UK, Sweden and Afghanistan – banded collectively to push for solutions and accountability below the banner of the Worldwide Coordination and Response Group.
However final month, the group expressed frustration with Iran, accusing Tehran of exhibiting “no real interest in adhering to its worldwide authorized obligations”.
The group set a January 5 deadline for the Iranians to “affirm whether or not they’re keen to interact in negotiations with the Coordination Group, after which we must assume that additional makes an attempt to barter reparations with Iran are futile”.
In Could, a Canadian courtroom entered a default ruling accusing Iran of deliberately downing the airplane in what it known as an “act of terrorism”, prompting an offended response from Tehran, which known as the courtroom’s choice “shameful”.
“Everybody is aware of that the Canadian courtroom is essentially not certified to guage this aviation accident or potential negligence in an incident that’s outdoors the territory and jurisdiction of Canada,” the Iranian overseas ministry stated at the moment.
In late 2020, the Iranian authorities introduced it will allocate $150,000 to every of the victims’ households.
Governments are normally shielded from civil lawsuits overseas, however a 2012 Canadian legislation restricted the authorized immunity of nations on its “overseas state supporters of terrorism”, together with Iran.
Final week’s judgement is more likely to deepen tensions between Canada and Iran.
Canada shuttered its embassy in Tehran and expelled Iranian diplomats from Ottawa in 2012, describing Iran as “probably the most important risk to world peace and safety on this planet”. Iran responded by calling the federal government of then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper “extremist”.
Iran has accused Canada of politicising the response to the downing of flight PS752.
“Canadian officers have had probably the most unwarranted interventions from day one and have tried to forestall the pure path of this situation being clarified,” an Iranian overseas ministry spokesperson stated in December 2020.