Iran is currently facing legal action at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in relation to the tragic shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 in January 2020.
Four countries—Canada, Sweden, Ukraine, and the UK—are pursuing legal recourse to seek damages on behalf of the families of the 176 individuals who lost their lives in the incident.
The plane was struck by two missiles fired by an air defense unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards shortly after taking off from Tehran. Three days later, Iran acknowledged that it had mistakenly shot down the aircraft.
The Revolutionary Guards’ Aerospace Force stated that an air defense unit had misidentified the Boeing 737-800 as a US missile.
In April, an Iranian court sentenced ten members of the armed forces to prison terms. However, the verdicts were rejected by the families of the victims, who deemed them “meaningless and unacceptable.”
The four nations – whose citizens or residents were killed in the incident – say in the application to the International Court of Justice that Iran “violated a series of obligations” under a convention on civil aviation by shooting down the jet.
They accuse Iran of failing to take all practicable measures to prevent the downing of the plane, which happened during a time of high tension between Iran and the US.
Iran however failed to conduct an impartial, transparent and fair criminal investigation and prosecution, the group says.
The countries want the court to order that Iran publicly acknowledges its “internationally wrongful acts”, apologise to the families and provide assurances that it will not happen again.
The application also asks the court to “order full reparation for all injury caused”, calling on Iran to return the missing belongings of the victims and to provide “full compensation” to the families.
Lord Ahmad, the UK’s Middle East minister, said they were “committed to pursuing justice for the victims and their families”.
In December 2022, the group jointly requested that Iran submit to binding arbitration, arguing the missiles that hit the flight were launched “unlawfully and intentionally”.
At the time a spokesperson for Canada’s foreign affairs ministry told the BBC the Iranian government had six months to respond. This deadline has now passed, prompting the countries to move towards legal action.