Canadian attorneys have filed a class-action lawsuit against Iran on behalf of some of the victims on board a Ukrainian flight shot down by an Iranian missile system last month.
The attorneys represent an anonymous client and demand Iran to pay at least $1.1 billion in damages, according to Reuters. The lawsuit says the client is family to one of the victims of the downed airliner. Neither are named because the client’s “Iranian family would be put at risk of harm or death by the Iranian regime.”
Iran fired missiles that downed a Ukrainian airliner on Jan. 8, the same night that the Iranian regime fired rockets at two Iraqi military bases where U.S. service members were stationed. All 176 people, including 56 Canadians, aboard the flight were killed.
The regime did not admit to shooting down the airliner until Jan. 11, though recordings suggest that Iranian officials knew much sooner that the regime was at fault.
The regime avoided taking responsibility for days and attempted to blame the pilots of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, saying the plane was flying erratically just after takeoff. Video that surfaced the day the flight went down shows a missile striking the plane.
Ukraine has attempted to secure the flight’s black boxes to analyze the plane’s final moments. But the Iranian team investigating the crash has thus far refused to turn over the flight data to Ukrainian investigators.
Iran’s admission on Jan. 11 sparked backlash from Iranian athletes, actors, and other popular figures as well as anti-government demonstrations by thousands of Iranian citizens. The protesters demanded widespread reforms throughout the government to increase transparency and honesty.
