Ukraine Calls Iran’s Final Report on Ukrainian Plane Crash ‘Hypocritical’

Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, in its final report investigating the downing of a Ukrainian aircraft, identified a Sepah (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) air defense operator as the main culprit behind the tragedy. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister called the report “a hypocritical attempt to cover up the truth.”

Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, strongly criticized Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization’s final report on the cause of the crash of Ukraine International Airlines passenger aircraft on Wednesday, March 17 (Esfand 27) in a Facebook post.

Kuleba wrote that the report is “a hypocritical attempt to conceal the true reasons for the plane crash.” He emphasized: “We will not allow Iran to hide the truth, we will not allow (Iran) to shirk responsibility for this crime.”

According to the Civil Aviation Organization’s report, a Sepah air defense operator mistook the aircraft for an attacking flying object and fired at it twice.

The report stated that recording devices were found at the accident site, but the quick-access recorder was not located.

The report continues that the condition of these devices indicates they were not exposed to fire during flight and likely suffered physical damage as a result of the impact with the ground or were exposed to fire.

On December 8, 2019, a Ukrainian passenger aircraft, shortly after taking off from Tehran’s International Airport heading to Kyiv, was targeted by two missiles from the Sepah air defense system and shot down. All 176 passengers and crew on board were killed in the incident.

Each of the two missiles weighed 167 kilograms with a warhead weight of 14 kilograms. The explosives used in the missile were of the type “Composition B,” containing 60 percent RDX and 40 percent “TNT.”

The missile was equipped with a proximity-fused warhead, and as it approached the aircraft, the warhead separated, then the submunition container detonated, and approximately 2,500 to 3,000 tungsten alloy submunitions traveling at approximately 1,800 meters per second struck the aircraft.

Republishing Controversial Information

In the Islamic Republic’s final report, some of the information previously released regarding the causes of Flight 752 crash of “Ukraine International Airlines” was repeated.

The release of this information in February drew criticism from experts, families of victims, and countries involved in the tragedy.

Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations, after investigating the causes and aspects of the Ukrainian aircraft downing, concluded that Tehran was lying about the matter.

Ms. Callamard said: “Obscurities in Iran’s official reports serve to create maximum confusion and minimum clarification.”

According to this UN expert, the Islamic Republic, by downing the aircraft and creating ambiguity afterward, violated various aspects of human rights.

Source: DW