A Canadian court has ordered Iran to pay $142 million in compensation to the families of eight victims of the Ukrainian plane crash PS752, which occurred in January 2020 when it was shot down by Iranian Revolutionary Guard missiles.
Judge David Stinson stated that the evidence presented by the victims’ families convinced him that the plane’s downing was a terrorist act, warranting compensation in line with punishment and condemnation.
As per the court ruling, each of the eight families can receive $16 million in compensation and an additional million dollars for the pain and suffering caused by this attack.
Canada, the UK, Sweden, and Ukraine recently took joint legal action against Iran at the International Court of Justice over the downing of the Ukrainian civilian aircraft in 2020, citing unlawful actions against civil aviation safety.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry has stated that it is investigating the complaints and claims made by the governments of Canada, Ukraine, Sweden, and the UK and will take appropriate measures to protect its rights and national interests before the International Court of Justice.
The Ukrainian International Airlines flight PS752, a Boeing 800-737, crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran airport en route to Kyiv on January 8, 2020, claiming the lives of 176 people from various nationalities, including Ukrainian, Canadian, British, and Swedish.
Iranian military officials stated at the time that the passenger plane was mistakenly shot down due to human error, as it was flying near an Iranian military facility and was mistakenly considered an “enemy target” during the heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran following the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.
