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B’nai Brith Calls for Bold Action on 1,000-Day Anniversary of Iran’s Downing of Ukraine International Flight PS 752

Flight PS 752 (Globe and Mail)

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September 29, 2022

OTTAWA – B’nai Brith Canada notes with sadness and frustration that October 4, 2022, will be 1,000 days since the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran, wantonly shot down Ukraine International Airlines flight PS 752, murdering all 176 aboard. 

Fifty-five of the passengers were Canadians. Another 30 were permanent residents and many others had close links to Canada. 

In May, 2021, reviewing abundant evidence, an Ontario court ruled that the downing of Flight PS 752 was an intentional act of terrorism and awarded some families of the victims reparations. Iran has refused to pay or even permit an independent investigation, obliging the families to file a case at the International Criminal Court. 

This horrific crime is just one of the actions of the rogue state that is today’s Iran. The lack of resolve by western nations allows Iran to repeatedly violate international law with impunity.  

B’nai Brith is calling upon the Government of Canada to enact stricter sanctions to isolate the Iranian regime: 

  • The immediate designation of the IRGC, in its entirety, as a terrorist entity. A parliamentary motion to that effect was adopted in 2016, but has not been acted upon.   
  • Collaboration with international partners at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to limit Iranian air carriers’ ability to transport passengers until reparations are paid to the victims of Iranian terror and to urge all international carriers to avoid overflying Iran thus depriving the regime of substantial revenues. 
  • Immediate action to end IRGC-associated money laundering and investment in Canadian markets. 
  • The seizing of Iranian assets in Canada to pay the reparations ordered by the Ontario Superior Court. 

“Today, we see Iran shooting its own people who are courageously protesting the killing of Masha Amini,” says Marvin Rotrand, National Director of B’nai Brith’s League for Human Rights. “Meanwhile, a lack of resolve by western nations has emboldened Iran in exporting terror and violating international law. In recent months, Iran has hijacked two Greek oil tankers, enabled attacks on shipping in the Arabian Gulf and has kidnapped western tourists to promote hostage diplomacy.” 

Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada, says Iran arms Palestinian terrorist groups. 

“Iran spreads global antisemitism, it flouts international law, it supports Russian aggression in Ukraine, it interferes to intimidate the Iranian diaspora including here in Canada, yet faces only mild slaps on the wrists,” Mostyn says. “We are calling for far more stringent sanctions on this ghoulish regime. We can start by making Iran pay for the deliberate destruction of flight PS 752.”