Lawyer for Group of Ukrainian Plane Victims’ Families: We Will Pursue Islamic Republic’s Assets in Canada for Compensation

The lawyer representing a group of families of victims of the Ukrainian plane shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says that following a court ruling ordering payment of $107 million in compensation, they will pursue assets of the Islamic Republic in Canada and abroad for compensation.

Mark Arnold, the lawyer handling the case of the families of the deceased passengers of the Ukrainian plane, said in an exclusive interview with Voice of America: We are aware of extensive assets related to the Islamic Republic of Iran in Canada and at the global and international level. We intend to pursue everything and everyone related to the Islamic Republic, whether in Canadian banks, real estate in Canada, companies in Canada and throughout Canada and at the international level that belong to Iran. We have comprehensive information about where these assets are located, and we are pursuing them.

He said he was not prepared to disclose details about these assets.

The Superior Court of Ontario in Canada on Monday, December 13, ruled in a judgment that the Islamic Republic of Iran must pay $107 million for the downing of the Ukrainian passenger aircraft, some of whose passengers were Canadian. Previously, this court had called the downing of the Ukrainian plane by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 2019 an “intentional act of terrorism.”

Ukrainian passenger flight 752 crashed hours after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ missile attack on Ain al-Asad base in Iraq, when two air defense missiles fired by the Guard shot it down moments after takeoff from Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran, killing all aboard.

Mark Arnold, the lawyer handling the case of the families of the deceased passengers of the Ukrainian plane, regarding the possibility of sovereign immunity for the Islamic Republic and preventing compensation payments to the families of victims from the Islamic Republic’s assets in Canada, said that this sovereign immunity does not apply based on Iran’s terrorist activities and the Islamic Republic of Iran has no sovereign immunity in this case.

Source: Voice of America