BRITAIN, Canada, Sweden and Ukraine launched a case against Iran at the United Nations’ highest court today over the downing in 2020 of a Ukrainian passenger jet and the deaths of all 176 passengers and crew.

The four countries want the International Court of Justice to rule that Iran illegally shot down the Ukraine International Airlines plane and to order Tehran to apologise and pay compensation to the families of the victims.

Flight PS752 was travelling from Tehran to Kiev on January 8 2020 when it was shot down soon after takeoff. 

The people killed included nationals and residents of Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and Britain, as well as Afghanistan and Iran. 

“Today’s legal action reflects our unwavering commitment to achieving transparency, justice and accountability for the families of the victims,” the countries said in a joint statement today.

In January 2020 Iran said its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard mistakenly downed the Ukrainian plane with two surface-to-air missiles. 

Iranian authorities blamed an air defence operator who they said mistook the Boeing 737-800 for a US cruise missile.

An Iranian court this year sentenced an air defence commander allegedly responsible for the downing to 13 years’ imprisonment, according to the country’s official judiciary news outlet.

But the countries that filed the case with the world court in The Hague called the prosecution “a sham and opaque trial.”

According to the court filing, Britain, Canada, Sweden and Ukraine argue that Iran “failed to take all practicable measures to prevent the unlawful and intentional commission of an offence” and “failed to conduct an impartial, transparent and fair criminal investigation and prosecution consistent with international law.”

The filing alleges that Iran “threatened and harassed the families of the victims seeking justice” and failed to report details of the incident to the International Civil Aviation Organisation.