Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared January 8 a national day of remembrance for victims of air disasters on the anniversary of the downing of Ukraine flight PS752 by Iran.
A total of 176 people were on board the flight that took off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport at 6.12am local time. Minutes later it crashed. After initially denying any involvement, Iran admitted it had accidentally shot down the plane.
The Iranian regime blamed the tragedy on human error and a misaligned surface-to-air missile.
Fifty-five Canadians and 30 permanent residents were on board. It was one of the worst air disasters in Canadian history and prompted national outrage. One year on, families are still searching for answers.
“Air disasters have taken the lives of too many Canadians and left too many families across our country without loved ones,” Mr Trudeau said. “Today, on the first National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Air Disasters, I join Canadians across the country to remember and honour the people who were lost in these tragedies and mourn alongside those they left behind.”
The five nations whose citizens died announced on Friday they would hold Tehran to account and ensure it paid full compensation to bereaved families.
Tehran said two of its surface-to-air missiles brought down the Ukraine International Airlines flight by mistake on January 8 last year, killing all passengers and crew on board. The incident came during a period of heightened tension with the US and followed a missile attack only hours earlier that had injured American soldiers in Iraq.
Iran’s investigation into the crash near Tehran has been marked by delays, incomplete accounts and blame-shifting with a full report on the circumstances of the tragedy still to be published, in a breach of international aviation rules. Ukrainian officials confirmed this week they received a preliminary report on December 31 and had 60 days to assess its findings before publication.
The International Co-ordination and Response Group for the victims, comprising Canada, the UK, Ukraine, Sweden and Afghanistan, said it remained committed to holding those responsible to account.
“Today we honour the memory of those who perished and offer our sincere condolences to all who mourn the victims of the PS752 tragedy,” said the group.
“We share the grief of the families, relatives and friends who lost loved ones. We urgently call on Iran to provide a complete and thorough explanation of the events and decisions that led to this appalling plane crash.
“Our countries will hold Iran to account to deliver justice and make sure Iran makes full reparations to the families of the victims and affected countries.”
Tehran has accepted blame and said it would give $150,000 to each of the families of the victims, but the offer was dismissed by Ukraine.
In 1996, Washington agreed to pay a total of $61.8 million to the families of 290 people killed in an Iran Air plane shot down by a US warship in 1988.
After its 2003 admission of responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing of a US-bound passenger plane, Libya paid $2.7 billion to the families of the 270 people killed.
Iran's failure to properly investigate the event 12 months ago means it is unsafe for aircraft to fly over Iran, Ralph Goodale, the Canadian government's key adviser on the disaster told The National.
Mr Goodale said a similar incident could “happen again tomorrow” because of the lack of a thorough and transparent inquiry.
He said all options open to Canada remain on the table, including sanctions targeting prominent Iranians under the country’s version of Magnitsky laws aimed at punishing state-backed abusers of human rights.
Meanwhile, UN investigator Agnes Callamard said the downing of the jet underscored the need for tighter rules on shutting down airspace amid military tensions and for investigating air tragedies sooner.
Authorities are loath to shut down air routes for political and financial reasons during moments of heightened tension, such as those that arose in January between the US and Iran after the assassination of an Iranian military commander, Ms Callamard said.
"Passengers and flight crew cannot be left at the mercy of states and airlines who put revenue and other motives ahead of safety," she said.
She called for the creation of a new body “completely independent” of governments and airlines to monitor air routes near conflict zones, to share information of threats and “prevent future incidents and save lives”.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
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Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts
Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.
The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.
Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.
More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.
The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.
Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:
November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.
December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.
July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.
May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.
New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.
