July 5, 2024
An Ontario court has ruled that Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) acted negligently when it allowed a flight to take off from Tehran’s international airport after Iran had fired missiles at an American base in Iraq in January 2020 and thus must pay the families of those killed when the Pasdaran shot the Ukrainian plane down.
The Ontario judge did not find Iran had no responsibility. In fact, the judge repeatedly described the Pasdaran as inept and incompetent, indicating that its proven irresponsibility provided all the more reason that UIA should have grounded its flight from Tehran. Justice Jasmine Akbarali wrote: “I find that UIA has failed to prove, on a balance of probabilities, that it was not negligent in allowing PS752 to depart Tehran on January 8, 2020. As such, its liability under the Montreal Convention is unlimited.”
The judgment means that under the Montreal Convention, the international law that governs the international carriage of passengers, UIA will not be able to limit the compensation payable to the families to $180,000 per passenger, but instead will be now be obligated to pay full compensatory damages arising from the fatalities as determined by a court. As for the Pasdaran and Iran’s explanation of what happened, at one point Justice Akbarali summarizes, “There are many reasons why Iran’s explanation makes absoltutely no sense.” The court order includes many observations against the Islamic Republic.
The judge declared the Islamic Republic’s explanations claiming human error to be unconvincing. The judge also holds the Islamic Republic responsible for keeping its civilian airspace open when it was prepared to fire missiles in its skies and for not issuing a NOTAM (Notice to Airman) warning what it was prepared to do.
Flight PS752, carrying many Canadian citizens and permanent residents, was shot down over Tehran at a time when military tensions with the United States were rapidly escalating. The Ontario Court found UIA was negligent for failing to conduct a proper assessment of the risks of operating the flight out of Tehran. In her 141-page decision, issued June 11, Justice Akbarali ruled that UIA’s negligence was grounded in the fact that hours before the departure of Flight 752 Iran had launched ballistic missiles against US forces in Iraq in retaliation for the assassination of Maj. Gen Qasem Soleymani and was on high alert for a counterattack.
The judgment followed an 18-day trial in Toronto that ended in January. The Iranian media covered the story but were silent about what she said about the Pasdaran and made it sound as if she had absolved the Pasdaran of any role, which is contrary to her decision. Kayhan reported that Vice President for Legal Affairs Mohammad Dehghan said the court ruling “implies” that the Islamic Republic has not directly made mistakes. The Tehran Times said, “The important point in the ruling is the dropping of accusations against Iran.”
The downing of the aircraft resulted in the deaths of 176 people, including 63 Canadians, most of whom were dual Iranian Canadians, 10 Swedes and 82 Iranians.
