Lawyer for a group of families of Ukrainian plane victims: We will seek Islamic Republic assets in Canada for compensation
A lawyer for a group of families of victims of the downing of a Ukrainian airliner by the Revolutionary Guards says they will seek compensation from the Islamic Republic's assets in Canada and abroad after a court ruled to pay $107 million in compensation.
Mark Arnold, a lawyer representing the families of the Ukrainian plane crash victims, told VOA in an exclusive interview: "We are aware of the extensive assets associated with the Islamic Republic of Iran in Canada and globally and internationally. We intend to pursue anything and everyone associated with the Islamic Republic, whether it's in Canadian banks, real estate in Canada, companies in Canada and in Canada in general and internationally that belong to Iran. We have comprehensive information about where these assets are, and we are going after them."
He said he was unwilling to give details about the property.
The Ontario Superior Court in Canada on Monday, January 4, sentenced the Islamic Republic of Iran to pay $107 million for the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane, some of whose passengers were Canadians. The court had previously called the downing of a Ukrainian plane by the Revolutionary Guard Corps in 2019 a "deliberate act of terrorism."
Ukrainian passenger plane Flight 752 was shot down by two IRGC air defense missiles moments after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport, killing all on board, hours after the IRGC's missile attack on the Ain al-Assad base in Iraq.
Mark Arnold, a lawyer representing the families of the Ukrainian plane crash victims, said about the possibility of sovereign immunity for the Islamic Republic and preventing compensation from being paid to the victims' families from the Islamic Republic's assets in Canada: This sovereign immunity does not apply based on Iran's terrorist actions and the Islamic Republic of Iran does not have sovereign rights in this matter.
Source: Voice of America
