Ukraine and Canada reject Iranian immunity claims over jet downing

More than 100 days have passed since Ukraine Airlines flight PS752 was downed, but the plane's black boxes are yet to be given to investigators

The Ukraine International Airlines, flight PS752 was struck by an Iranian missile near Iran's Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran on January 8. Reuters

Canada and Ukraine rejected claims on Friday that they may surrender their rights to hold Iran to account after it shot down a passenger flight in January.

Thursday marked 100 days since the Ukrainian plane was downed after it took off in Tehran on January 8, killing all 176 passengers on board. Fifty-seven were Canadian citizens and 29 were residents of Canada.

Iran’s military admitted that the plane was targeted due to “human error”.

Canadian Foreign Minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, said he has not received the proposed Iranian memo that suggested that Tehran is seeking immunity from future legal action.

"That would not be in line with the discussion we have had so far and the resolve we have shown to stand up for justice for the families," Mr Champagne said during an interview with The Canadian Press.

“Some entities may want to spread some information that may not be accurate,” he said.

“I would be a little bit careful at this time that there might be actors that might want to spread rumours, at a time where the grieving families are looking for facts,” he said.

The Canadian minister said that families are grieving and need answers.

They must be reassured “we are all working in a similar fashion to achieve that,” he said.

Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada, Andriy Shevchenko, said his country is still waiting for the handover of the flight’s black box and is running out of patience with Iran.

When Iran agreed in March to hand over the black boxes to Ukraine or France for analysis, the move was welcomed by Canada and Ukraine.

But with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic Canada asked Iran to postpone the procedure due to the imposed global travel restrictions.

Mr Shevchenko said his government may resort to alternative measures to urge Iran to hand over the black box but did not say what those might be.

“We are very dissatisfied with the non-progress on this,” he said. “We’ve had more than enough time to have some action and some concrete steps on this.”

“It’s 100 days today. We have had too much grief, too few answers and too little action," Mr Shevchenko said.