13 Years Prison Sentence for Primary Defendant in Ukrainian Airplane Case

The Judiciary sentenced the primary defendant in the Ukrainian airplane case to 13 years in prison.

The Ukrainian passenger plane, on December 9, 2019 at 6:19 AM, shortly after takeoff from Imam Khomeini International Airport, was targeted by two missiles fired 24 seconds apart from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps air defense system and crashed near Shahdad, Tehran province, killing all 176 passengers and crew members on board.

The Islamic Republic initially denied knowledge of the attack and later admitted to it, stating that an error had occurred. An error that not only took the lives of 176 passengers but also affected the lives of their families. A case that has not been fully and thoroughly investigated even after three years.

Now, after three years have passed, the Judiciary has issued a sentence of 13 years in prison for the primary defendant in this case and one to three years in prison for eight other defendants. 13 years in prison for someone responsible for the deaths of 176 people in such a horrific manner.

Morteza Kazemian, a journalist, writer and political activist residing in Paris, has also reacted to this sentence and wrote on his Twitter account: “The Judiciary sentenced the primary defendant in the case of the downing of the Ukrainian airplane and the deaths of 176 people to 13 years and eight other defendants to one to three years in prison. Compare this with the issuance of harsh judicial sentences for protesting citizens in the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement, particularly those who have been sentenced to death or executed.”

This sentence was issued by the Judiciary while seven months have passed since the popular uprising, and many Iranian protesting people have been accused of moharebeh (enmity against God) and corruption on earth due to their participation in protests seeking justice, with death sentences issued against them, and for some of them the execution of the death sentence was carried out in less than a month.

What is the difference between justice-seeking people who come to the streets in protest and individuals who easily take a missile and take the lives of 176 innocent people? The law of the Islamic Republic says that those who protest should be executed, but those who have caused the collective death of innocent humans, only a few years in prison is sufficient to settle their charges. Is this the justice that the Imam of the Shias spoke of?