IRAN has taken Canada to the International Court of Justice and accused the North American country of violating its “international obligations” by allowing people to seek civil damages against Tehran.
Tehran claimed that Ottawa violated Iran’s state immunity by listing the Islamic Republic as a sponsor of terrorism in 2012.
The designation allowed victims of alleged terror attacks to collect compensation from Iran through the Canadian civil courts.
In a case announced by the International Court of Justice — known as the world court — Iran asserted a violation of its sovereign immunity, which generally shields states from civil lawsuits in foreign jurisdictions.
The principle of sovereign immunity prohibits private parties from suing another state before the courts of the forum state and from seizing its property.
Last year, a Canadian court awarded more than $80 million in compensation to the families of six victims who died when Iranian forces shot down a Ukrainian airliner in January 2020.
Iran said the shooting of the plane was an accident that happened at a time when Iranian Forces fired missiles at bases housing United States troops in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of top General Qassem Soleimani. All 176 people on board the plane were killed including 85 Canadian citizens and permanent residents.
In 2020, the Iranian government said it would give $150,000 to each of the victims’ families.
Iran asked the Hague-based International Court of Justice to make Canada overturn the law passed in 2012 that allows victims to collect damages from state terror sponsors in Canadian Civil Courts and also demanded compensation from Ottawa.
