Montrealers protest “inaction” 3 years after shooting tragedy of flight PS752

Protestors are staging a sit-in and hunger strike in front of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) offices in downtown Montreal since Thursday for what they call “three long years of indifference, inaction and ignorance the ICAO has showed in regards to the criminal shooting of flight PS752.”

On January 8, 2020, flight PS752 from Tehran was shot down from the sky over Iran just minutes after take off when Iranian forces fired missiles at the passenger plane heading to Kiev. All 176 people on board were killed. Many of them were headed to Canada.

The ICAO is a United Nations agency that sets policies and standards for civil aviation globally. Protestors – many of which lost friends and family in the tragedy – are criticizing their handing of the investigation.

Mohammad Aminnia was among those protesting. His fiancée, Masoumeh Ghavi, lost her life in the tragedy.

“Masoumeh was the one of the most brilliant person I’ve ever seen in my life. She was full of energy, full of life. She was a symbol of life for me. She didn’t even want to sleep because she said life is short already, but I didn’t know what the life is going to be too short for her.”

Ghavi was a student at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

“She had her whole career in front of her. She always told me, I want to finish my university and go to work for Google. And she had a lot of wishes , hopes in her life and after I buried her I didn’t know how that energy can go away. I don’t know. It was really devastating because she was symbol of life.”

Protesters outside the ICAO Montreal office – calling for action on the 3-year anniversary of Flight PS752 tragedy. Photo Credit: Sasha Teman/CityNews Montreal

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The “Woman, Life, Freedom” association of Montreal – who is behind the protest – says the sit-in will end Friday but the hunger strike will continue until January 8 in front of the ICAO offices.

On the 8th – which marks the three year anniversary of the tragedy – protesters plan on commemorating those who lost their lives by hosting a rally that will march from McGill University to the offices of the ICAO in Montreal.

They are calling for others to join them.

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Ministers representing Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, have taken action to begin the process to hold Iran legally accountable for shooting down flight PS752.

In a statement, the International Coordination and Response Group for the victims of Flight PS752 on arbitration said: “In particular, we have requested that Iran submits to binding arbitration of the dispute related to the downing of Flight PS752 by 2 surface-to-air missiles launched unlawfully and intentionally by members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) air defence unit pursuant to Article 14 of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation of 1971.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly made the announcement on December 28. She Tweeted: “Those who lost loved ones in the downing of PS752 deserve justice. We have taken an important step to advance our pursuit of that justice at the international level this week and will continue to work together to hold Iran accountable for this tragedy.”

In statement sent to CityNews by email, a spokesperson for the ICAO said:

“We welcome peaceful activism that can encourage progress in these areas, and as a UN agency, we also welcome peaceful activism in the pursuit of social justice.”

And add that It’s inaccurate to suggest ICAO handed off responsibility to conduct an investigation into this incident. They say the agency must be instructed by countries to conduct investigations of any nature, and that all countries are sovereign, and do not need to accept to be investigated by any external party unless they agree to be.

ICAO is however not an international aviation regulator, and nor does it have authority over its member states. We are therefore unable to comment on matters under national jurisdiction, or to speculate on individual States’ diplomatic positions and outcomes. Questions of this type can only be answered by the governments themselves.”

“It’s inaccurate to suggest ICAO handed off responsibility to conduct an investigation into this incident. In the first place our agency must be instructed by countries to conduct investigations of any nature, normally on the basis of a significant international diplomatic consensus. Secondly, all countries are sovereign, meaning none has to accept to be investigated by any external party unless they agree to be.

“These points are over and above the military and national security aspects of this terrible tragedy, many of which are beyond the scope of the international conventions which prescribe what countries can and cannot take action on through ICAO,” said Anthony Philbin, Chief, Communications, Office of the Secretary General, International Civil Aviation Organization.