Canada’s double standard regarding human rights

As Iran and Ukraine move ahead with their collaboration on the downed airplane, analysts put the spotlight on Canada’s double standards regarding human rights. Canada is making every effort to use the airplane incident I order to turn up the heat on Iran.

On January 8, 2020, a Ukrainian passenger plane crashed in the vicinity of Tehran moments after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board. Almost three days after the plane crash, Iran formally announced that Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was mistakenly shot down by Iranian air defenses amid heightened tensions with the United States following the cruel assassination of General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.

The Iranian general was assassinated by an American drone strike in the vicinity of Baghdad’s international airport on January 3, an outrageous move that brought Iran and the U.S. much closer to an all-out war. Iran strongly decried the U.S. decision to assassinate General Soleimani and promised to take “harsh revenge” against the U.S. First, Iran held a very large funeral ceremony for the general and then buried him in his hometown of Kerman. And as Soleimani was laid to rest in Kerman, on January 8 Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes against an Iraqi base housing American troops, causing brain injuries to dozens of American servicemen.

During the same night of the strikes, the Ukrainian passenger airplane was mistakenly shot down by Iranian air defenses. The Islamic Republic of Iran expressed sympathy with the victims and, right from the beginning, worked with Ukraine and Canada, and other countries whose citizens were killed in the incident to get to the bottom of what happened to the Ukrainian plane on that tense night.

“A sad day. Preliminary conclusions of internal investigation by Armed Forces: Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster. Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stated in a tweet on January 11, shortly after the Iranian Armed Forces said that the plane was mistakenly shot down.

However, Canada sought to politicize the plane crash right from the beginning.

“The families of the victims and all Canadians want answers. I want answers. That means closure, transparency, accountability and justice – and this government will not rest until we get that,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated on January 9.

At that time, investigation into the incident had not begun yet. That’s why legal and political experts stated at the time that Canada should wait until a comprehensive investigation is done.

Canada’s double standards regarding human rights were on full display during the so-called U.S. “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran. Over the past two years, the White House imposed the harshest sanctions on Iran in history that led to a serious shortage of medicines in Iran. Canada strictly abided by the unilateral U.S. sanctions and refused to even export humanitarian goods to Iran. Analysts believe that Canada is not really concerned over the Iranians who died in the plane crash. Rather, it is just using the incident to put pressure on Iran.

Additionally, Canada has become a safe haven for almost all corrupt politicians who are convicted of embezzlement and other financial crimes. Mahmoudreza Khavari, the former head of Iran’s Bank Melli, is a good case in point. Khavari was involved in a historic embezzlement scandal of roughly 2.6 billion dollars.

In spite of its untenable records on human rights, Canada still makes every effort to abuse the Ukrainian plane crash. In early October, Canada announced that it is forming its own forensic investigation and assessment team to carefully examine evidence and information related to the Ukrainian plane crash.

“This is yet another step to uncover the truth, hold the Iranian regime to account, and seek justice for the families of the victims. We will spare no efforts on behalf of the families of the victims to obtain justice and closure,” The Canadian government said in a statement.

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