Families of Ukrainian Plane Victims Appeal to Airlines: Refrain from Flying Over Iranian Airspace
According to CBC news agency, families of those killed in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ missile attack on a Ukrainian flight in Iran have urged European and international airlines to refrain from negotiating with the Iranian government for continued flights over Iranian airspace unless Tehran fully cooperates regarding the missile attack on flight 752 and punishes those responsible.
Flight 752 of Ukraine International Airlines, which departed Tehran for Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, on January 8, 2020 (December 18, 1398 in the Iranian calendar) with 176 passengers, crashed minutes after takeoff as a result of a missile attack by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps near the city of Parand in Tehran province, killing all passengers, most of whom were of Iranian descent. This tragedy occurred hours after the Guard’s missile attack on the Ain al-Asad base in Iraq, which hosts American forces.
An association representing the families of victims launched an online petition asking German airline Lufthansa to refrain from using Iranian airspace. The petition was submitted after Iranian news websites reported that European airlines, led by Lufthansa, had held extensive negotiations regarding the use of Iranian airspace.
According to CBC, since the petition was launched on Sunday, May 11, over 14,000 people have signed it.
Hamed Esmailiyon, a spokesperson for the association of families of PS 752 crash victims who himself lost his wife and daughter in this tragedy, says that the Iranian government must be held accountable. The crashed Ukrainian flight carried 55 Canadian citizens.
Previously, Human Rights Watch had accused Islamic Republic of Iran officials of “following past patterns, evading responsibility and instead of providing details of investigations into the downing of the aircraft and those responsible for the fatal mistake, condemning individuals who had protested the deaths of 176 people.”
According to the human rights organization, the Islamic Republic’s judiciary condemned at least 13 people to lengthy prison sentences in late April 2020 solely for peaceful protests against the Guard’s deadly attack on the Ukrainian plane and the Iranian government’s initial denial of the attack on the civilian airliner.
Despite their initial denials, Iranian officials ultimately admitted, after the release of reports by U.S. intelligence agencies, that they had mistakenly targeted and shot down the Ukrainian aircraft with an air defense missile.
Source: Radio Farda
