Canada court rules that shooting down of UIA plane by Iran was 'act of terrorism'

"The plaintiffs have established that the shooting down of Flight 752 by the defendants was an act of terrorism and constitutes 'terrorist activity'..."Justice Edward Belobaba wrote in his decision issued Thursday, CBC News reports.

According to him, "the missile attacks on Flight 752 were intentional and directly caused the deaths of all onboard."

Iran did not defend itself in court to refute the plaintiff's evidence, making this a default judgment.

The suit's defendants include Iran, the country's armed forces, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. 

The court decision is a way for victims' families in Canada to seek damages from Iran for the death of their loved ones. 

As reported, on January 8, 2020, Ukraine International Airlines plane (Flight PS752) heading from Tehran to Kyiv crashed shortly after taking off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport. There were 176 people on board – nine crew members (all Ukrainians) and 167 passengers (citizens of Ukraine, Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and the UK).

On January 11, Iran admitted that its military had accidentally shot down the Ukrainian passenger jet. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accepted full responsibility for the downing of the Ukrainian airliner.

On March 17, 2021, Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization released the final report on the crash of the Ukrainian passenger plane in January 2020. The report blamed an error by an air defence operator for the accidental downing of the Ukrainian plane.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called Iran's report an attempt to hide true causes of the plane crash.

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