Iran International
Navaz Ebrahim, who lost her sister and brother-in-law on the Ukraine International Airlines flight that was shot down in Tehran in 2020, said a recent Ontario court ruling is being used by Iran's cyber army to create misinformation and lies.
A court in Ontario earlier this week found that Ukraine International Airlines failed in its duty to cancel flight PS752 in 2020 that took off from Tehran amid military activity and was downed by the IRGC killing 176. On January 8, 2020, as Iran fired ballistic missiles at US bases in Iraq, flight PS752 took off from Tehran and minutes later was shot down by two missiles.
"Lies are spreading," said Ebrahim, who is also the president of the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims.
"It seems to be systematic. A lot of it coming from the Islamic Republic," she said.
There have also been a lot of accusations on social media that suing the Ukrainian airline helps the Islamic Republic to cover its tracks and lessen its guilt and responsibility.
Ebrahim said "this court ruling does not diminish in any way, the IRGC’s and the Islamic Regime’s responsibility in the downing of flight PS752 but further emphasizes it.
State media in Iran, for example, has claimed that the ruling shows the Ukrainian airline is responsible, which is incorrect.
Ebrahim said Monday's court ruling was significant and actually helped the families in their fight to get to the truth.
"It was actually very emotional to hear how much they [Ukrainian Airlines] did not follow even basic, safety protocols that night. That's not lifting the responsibility off of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the IRGC shoulders in any way," said Ebrahim.
In March 2021, Iran's civil aviation authority report concluded that the Boeing 737-800 passenger plane was shot down accidentally after being "misidentified" by an air defense unit as a "hostile target" but Monday's ruling referred to Iran's human error claims as "implausible."
In October 2022, during Iran's nationwide protests, one of the country's largest independent anti-poverty charities reported that many minors were recruited to attack protesters in exchange for essential food supplies. Over 500 members and supporters of Imam Ali's Popular Student Relief Society (IAPSRS) stated that authorities employed children as part of their forces against anti-government protesters.
During the peak of the uprising, as the Islamic Republic’s repressive forces faced fatigue and shortages, it became increasingly evident that impoverished children were recruited to suppress the protests. Images of children, some not even wearing shoes and teenagers in anti-riot uniforms of the Basij and Revolutionary Guards surfaced on social media, sparking widespread outrage among users.
At the same time, the Association for the Protection of Children's Rights issued a statement condemning the use of children to suppress street protests, as well as the killing and arrest of children and teenagers during the nationwide uprising in Iran.
Garbage Collecting Mafia and Child Labor in Iran
Many working children are taken advantage of by organized crime groups in the streets to do dirty and odd jobs for small compensation.
Speaking at a meeting in Tehran on the role of public awareness in ending child labor, held on the eve of the World Day Against Child Labor, Farshid Yazdani, a children's rights activist, criticized Iranian authorities for wrongly emphasizing that child laborers are involved in "gangs and mafia." He stated, "Our studies show that the maximum level of coordination is that child laborers do these jobs [garbage collecting], as a family," as reported by Hammihan on Tuesday.
In this meeting, Reza Shafakhah, the secretary of the children's rights committee of the human rights working group of the National Union of Bar Associations, emphasized that child labor is a phenomenon that does not have a mafia, but garbage collection has a mafia.
Shafakhah added: "Even if it is a mafia, it still does not reduce the duties of government organizations."
Inaccurate Government Statistics of Child Laborers in Iran
In another part of this meeting, Yazdani discussed the government's varying and inaccurate statistics on the number of child laborers and stated: "In 2018, we identified about 4,800 garbage-picking children in the city of Tehran.
At the meeting, Mohammad Saleh Noghrehkar, head of human rights at the Bar Association, cited former Minister Ali Rabiei's claim at a Child Labor Convention in Brazil during Hassan Rouhani's presidency that "We don't have child scavengers in Iran." Noghrehkar countered, noting that the IAPSRS had identified 120,000 child scavengers that same year.
Shafakhah further stated that there are 19 million marginalized people in Iran and emphasized that the latest official number of working children is "three million."
According to him, IAPSRS had 44 centers that covered 6,000 children all over the country before its dissolution.
Iran’s Crackdown on NGOs and Children’s Rights Activists
In 2020 Iranian security forces detained the founder and director of IAPSRS Sharmin Meymandinejad and two of the managers of IAPSRS following a complaint filed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Susequently, the Ministry of Interior of the Rouhani government filed a complaint with the judiciary, requesting the dissolution of this organization by the judicial authorities.
The court hearing of the IRGC complaint was held on 2 March 2021, and in a rare move, a day later, on 3 March 2021, the court issued a ruling to dissolve IAPSRS.
The Rouhani government's Ministry of Interior requested the dissolution of this organization, citing accusations such as "issuing political statements during critical times in the country and engaging in anti-religious activities."
Shafakhah, heading the legal team of IAPSRS, stated that the indictment presented to the court regarding IAPSRS and its members began with the assertion that "NGOs are seeking a velvet and colorful revolution."
In the indictment, civil activists were referred to as "informers of international organizations" because "in international forums and UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, they provide statistics about Iran's social harms that lead to the approval of resolutions against Iran."
"Given the capabilities of the SAM system, the Iranian explanation of human error is implausible," the court ruling stated.
Ebrahim called Iran the 'perpetrators' who shot down the flight on January 8, 2020 killing all 176 people on board.
The Ontario court ruling that Ukraine International Airlines failed in its duty to cancel flight PS752 in 2020 does not absolve Iran, and is not about monetary compensation, said Paul Miller, one of the lawyers representing the PS752 families.
Just 10 minutes before the trail began, Miller contacted his wife, because he was overcome with emotion.
It's a unique case, unlike any other, he told Iran International.
"There was probably 15 to 20 people in the courtroom, family members, and they were all wearing pins with the faces of family members who died. And that brings it very real, you know, a very different way. And it became a very emotional trial," said Miller.
Several families of PS752 victims have told Iran International that they have endured bullying and harassment on social media after the verdict on the Ukrainian airlines came through.
For their protection and to prevent further bullying, they have decided not to speak out, but wanted the public to know that this case is not about money, and is just one step in their journey towards justice.
The backlash received by several PS752 families over this court judgement, Miller said is horrific and misguided.
He stated that the majority of victims of PS752 were highly educated and accomplished. At least 19 universities in six provinces lost researchers, professors and students after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shot down the passenger plane.
Many of the victims, he said, were breadwinners of their families.
There was a total of 138 passengers that were part of this specific lawsuit, according to Miller. The ruling states that under the Montreal Convention, UIA cannot limit compensation to $180,000 USD per passenger but must pay full compensatory damages, which Miller said is up to 230,000 dollars per family.
"It's absolutely crucial that families get that compensation so that they can manage and not have financial stress going forward. This is trying to make life easier for people who have endured one of the most horrific events possible," said Miller.
David Matas, a legal advisor to the Association of the Families of the Victims of PS752, said the families are not about compensation, and are trying to find out what happened in their quest for justice.
Matas said the judgement by the Ontario court does not prove the Ukrainian airlines was negligent, rather the case he said only shows that the airline can't prove that it wasn't negligent under the Montreal Convention.
"Because of the wording the Montreal convention, the Ukrainian airline had to prove that they were not negligent. In other words, instead of the prosecution proven guilt, the defendant had to prove innocence," explained Matas, an international human right lawyer, on the case.
Matas, who is a senior fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, said Iran is covering up its own responsibility.
Iran has prevented an independent investigation from taking place. On January 14, 2020, Iran promised to investigate the attack, but they have not shared details about their investigations, and they did not show key evidence to Ukraine or other countries whose citizens were killed.
The judge made it clear that this judgement does not absolve the IRGC from responsibility in the downing of the aircraft. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice earlier labeled the missile strike by the IRGC as "terrorist activity" and dismissed claims by Iran that the downing was a mere "human error."
The judgement on Monday found, that despite the IRGC's deliberate firing of two missiles at the airliner, the company could not prove that it acted according to standards to cancel the flight amid potential military activities in the early hours of January 8, 2020.
Miller said he and the rest of the legal team consider the PS752 families to be "special" and that they will never "forget" them. As for the Islamic Republic of Iran, Miller said he "I just can't fathom. Your country. The country you came from killed your family."
The families of PS752 victims, like Ebrahim, want the online bullying to stop.
"It's just very difficult and emotional for the families. It's not easy to be attacked and to listen to all the lies and misinformation," she said.
