Iran’s judiciary said on Saturday that passengers of an airliner that Tehran has said was “harassed” this week by an American fighter jet over Syria can sue the US military for damages in Iranian courts.
Iranian media said on Friday that several passengers on the Mahan Air flight heading from Tehran to Beirut were injured on Thursday after the pilot rapidly changed altitude to avoid collision with the US jet.
The US military said its F-15 was at a safe distance and the fighter was conducting a visual inspection of the airliner as it passed near the Tanf garrison in Syria, home to US forces.
“All passengers on Mahan Air Flight 1152, Iranians and non-Iranian, can sue the terrorist US military — commanders, perpetrators, supervisors and deputies — in Iranian courts for moral and physical damages,” Ali Bagheri-Kani, head of the judiciary’s human rights office was quoted as saying by the semi-official ILNA news agency.
He said complainants could also take an international legal route through the International Civil Aviation Organization, the UN agency that oversees international civil aviation agreements.
He said Iranian courts follow laws that deal with human rights violations and “adventurist and terrorist acts of the United States in the region.”
It was not clear if any passenger would sue the US military.
Iran said on Friday it had lodged a complaint with the ICAO.
The incident was the latest in tensions between Tehran and Washington since President Donald Trump withdrew the United States in 2018 from Iran’s nuclear deal with six powers and reimposed sanctions that have battered Iran’s economy.
Footage of the inside of the airliner broadcast by Iranian state TV on Friday showed a passenger lying immobile on the floor and another with a wounded nose and forehead.
Iranian judiciary says passengers on ‘harassed’ airliner can sue US in Iran courts
https://arab.news/bsmsq
Iranian judiciary says passengers on ‘harassed’ airliner can sue US in Iran courts
- Iranian media said several passengers were injured after the pilot rapidly changed altitude to avoid collision with the US jet
- Head of judiciary said complainants could also take an international legal route
The art of war: fears for masterpieces on loan to Louvre Abu Dhabi
- UAE paid more than €1 billion to borrow priceless works, but experts in France want them back
PARIS: The Middle East war has raised fears for the safety of priceless masterpieces on loan from France to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the museum’s only foreign branch.
The Abu Dhabi museum, which opened in 2017, has so far escaped damage from nearly 1,800 Iranian drone and missile strikes launched since the conflict erupted on Feb. 28.
However, concerns are mounting in France. “The works must be removed,” said Didier Selles, who helped broker the original agreement between France and the UAE.
French journal La Tribune de l’Art echoed that alarm. “The Louvre’s works in Abu Dhabi must be secured!” it said.
France’s culture ministry said French authorities were “in close and regular contact with the authorities of the UAE to ensure the protection of the works loaned by France.”
Under the agreement with the UAE, France agreed to provide expertise, lend works of art and organize exhibitions, in return for €1 billion, including €400 million for licensing the use of the Louvre name. The deal was extended in 2021 to 2047 for an additional €165 million.
Works on loan include paintings by Rembrandt and Chardin, Classical statues of Isis, Roman sarcophagi and Islamic masterpieces: such as the Pyxis of Al-Mughira.
A Louvre Abu Dhabi source said the museum was designed to protect collections from both security threats and natural disasters.
