Families of Ukrainian plane victims appeal to airlines: Avoid flying over Iranian skies

According to the CBC News Agency, the families of those killed in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' missile attack on a Ukrainian flight in Iran have called on European and international airlines to refrain from negotiating with the Iranian government to continue flying over Iranian airspace until Tehran fully cooperates with the missile attack on Flight 752 and punishes the perpetrators.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, which was en route from Tehran to the Ukrainian capital Kiev with 176 passengers on board, was shot down by an IRGC missile near the new city of Parand in Tehran province minutes after takeoff, killing all on board, most of whom were of Iranian descent. The disaster came hours after the IRGC launched a missile attack on the Ain al-Assad base in Iraq, which hosts US forces.

An association representing the families of the victims has called on German airline Lufthansa to refrain from using Iranian airspace in an online petition. The request came after news sites in Iran reported that European airlines led by Lufthansa had held extensive negotiations about using Iranian airspace.

According to CBC, more than 14,000 people have signed the petition since it was launched on Sunday, May 11.

Hamed Esmailiyon, a spokesman for the Association of Families of Victims of Flight PS 752, who himself lost his wife and daughter in the disaster, says the Iranian government must be held accountable. The crashed Ukrainian flight was carrying 55 Canadian citizens.

Previously, Human Rights Watch had accused the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran of "following the past practice of evading responsibility and, instead of providing details of the investigation into the downing of the plane and those responsible for its fatal mistake, condemning those who protested the deaths of 176 people."

According to this human rights organization, in late April 2020, the Islamic Republic's judiciary sentenced at least 13 people to long-term prison terms simply for peacefully protesting the Revolutionary Guard Corps' deadly attack on a Ukrainian airliner and the Iranian government's initial denial of the attack on that passenger plane.

Despite their initial denials, Iranian officials finally announced, after reports from American intelligence agencies were published, that they had mistakenly targeted and shot down the Ukrainian plane with an anti-aircraft missile.

Source: Radio Farda