Tehran Slams Canadian Court's 'Groundless' Ruling on Ukrainian Jet Crash - Sputnik International

(Sputnik) - Tehran deems a Canadian court's ruling that Iran deliberately downed a Ukrainian passenger plane in January 2020 to be baseless and politically motivated, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

On Thursday, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that the Iranian military deliberately shot down Ukrainian International Airlines flight 752, recognising the move as a terrorist act under the Criminal Code of Canada. The crash, which occurred near the Tehran Airport on 8 January 2020, claimed the lives of all 167 passengers, most of whom were Canadian and Iranian citizens, and nine Ukrainian crew members. The court ordered Tehran to compensate the plaintiffs, a group of families of the victims of the crash, for legal costs.

    "The ruling in question has no basis and lacks any objective evidence and reason. Given that the verdict is available online, we invite those interested in such issues to study the court ruling to realise that it is groundless", spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh was quoted as saying by the ministry.

The diplomat stated that the decision contradicted international legal principles and undermined Canada's claim to be "an advocate of the rule of law"...