Compensation needed from Iran

IRAN MUST COMPENSATE CRASH VICTIMS’ FAMILIES, CANADA-LED GROUP AGREES

Canada and its allies sent a stern message to Iran on Thursday: get ready to pay the families of those who died on board the Ukrainian airliner it shot down, and don’t try to block any meaningful criminal prosecution of those responsible.

Those demands were among the five elements in the agreement that emerged from the meeting Canada hosted in London Thursday with representatives from Britain, Sweden, Afghanistan and Ukraine — countries that lost citizens in the crash of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752.

“We are judging Iran every day, demand by demand,” Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said after the meeting.

The newly formed group of Iran watchers will have to remain vigilant for months, if not years, Champagne said.

That was underscored by the presence of Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok. He joined talks to provide a briefing on the Netherlands’ experience leading its five-year probe of the deadly shootdown of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine, which investigators have blamed on Russia. That crash killed 298 people and the majority of them were from the Netherlands.

The countries expect Iran to deal with them on providing compensation to the families of victims, and ensuring a transparent investigation into the downing of the aircraft.

“The international community is watching. I think that we took as a first positive step the fact that Iran admitted full responsibility,” Champagne said, flanked by his fellow foreign ministers and their flags.

“From that admission, obviously, flows consequences and we expect and demand full co-operation from the Iranian authorities in every step of consular services, identification of remains, investigation and prosecution of those responsible.”

The RCMP, for example, is creating DNA profiles in Canada of victims to help Iran identify remains but has not received a formal invitation to help out.