The Downing of Flight 752 by the Islamic Republic and Unachieved Justice Must Not Be Forgotten
Irwin Cotler, head of the International Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and former Canadian Justice Minister, and Amanda Ghahremani, international human rights lawyer and research associate at the Simon de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia University in Montreal, have written an article in the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail stating that the downing of flight PS-752 by Iran and the justice that has yet to be achieved must not be forgotten.
In this article published on Wednesday, October 28, the two noted that while foreign policy history has not played a major role in Canadian elections, in this year’s election, the Afghanistan crisis, China-related issues including the cases of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor who have now returned to Canada, and discussions of China’s genocide against the Uyghurs were raised.
The article continued: “But that was all. Nothing was discussed about the situation with Iran, which is a major foreign policy issue for Canada, especially in connection with the downing of the Ukrainian passenger aircraft 752 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on January 8, 2020, at Tehran airport.”
Irwin Cotler and Amanda Ghahremani stated: “The impact of the downing of flight PS-752 on Canada was very heavy. Of the 176 victims, 55 were Canadian citizens and 83 others were either permanent residents or had close ties to Canada. Most of these passengers were bound for Canada and were going to Kyiv to change their flights there.”
The article continued that families and friends of the victims across Canada “are seeking truth and accountability for this heinous crime and, while asserting their right to receive compensation, want to be assured that such an event will never happen again.”
The article states that while the Canadian government has acted decisively since that time, despite more than 20 months passing since the tragedy, the families of the victims have still received no answers.
The authors of the article call on the next Canadian Foreign Minister to prioritize this case. They write: “Given that there are no fair and justice-based courts in Iran for what happened, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police [Canada’s national police force] should open a criminal investigation into what occurred. The results of this investigation should be coordinated with Ukrainian authorities who are considering possible prosecution.”
At the end of the article, while expressing regret that flight PS-752 was not discussed further in this election, it states: “We must now witness the implementation of concrete and decisive measures in the pursuit of justice.”
Source: Voice of America
