Families of Ukrainian Plane Victims Call on Airlines: Refrain from Flying Over Iranian Airspace
According to CBC News, families of the victims killed in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ missile attack on a Ukrainian flight in Iran have called on European and international airlines to refrain from negotiating with the Iranian government to resume flights over Iranian airspace until Tehran provides full cooperation regarding the missile attack on Flight 752 and punishes those responsible.
Flight 752 of Ukraine International Airlines, which departed Tehran on January 8, 2020 (December 29, 1398 in the Persian calendar) with 176 passengers headed to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, crashed minutes after takeoff due to a missile attack by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps near the city of Parand in Tehran Province, killing all passengers on board, who were mostly of Iranian descent. This tragedy occurred hours after the Guards’ missile attack on the Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq, which hosts American forces.
An association representing the families of victims submitted an online petition to German airline Lufthansa requesting that it refrain from using Iranian airspace. The request was made after Iranian news sites reported that European airlines led by Lufthansa have held extensive negotiations regarding the use of Iranian airspace.
According to CBC News, since the petition was launched on Sunday, May 11, more than 14,000 people have signed it.
Hamed Esmaeilion, spokesperson for the PS752 Flight Victims’ Families Association, who himself lost his wife and daughter in this tragedy, says that the Iranian government should be held responsible. The crashed Ukrainian flight had 55 Canadian citizens on board.
Previously, Human Rights Watch had accused the Islamic Republic of Iran’s officials of “following their usual pattern of evading responsibility and, instead of presenting investigation details regarding the downing of the aircraft and those responsible for the deadly mistake, condemning individuals who had protested the attack that claimed 176 lives.”
According to the human rights organization, the Islamic Republic’s judicial system condemned at least 13 people in late April 2020 to lengthy prison sentences solely for peaceful protest against the Guards’ deadly attack on the Ukrainian aircraft and the government’s initial denial of the attack on the passenger plane.
Despite their initial denials, Iranian officials eventually announced, following reports from American intelligence agencies, that they had mistakenly targeted and shot down the Ukrainian aircraft with an air defense missile.
Source: Radio Farda
