Nowruz message from families of those killed in plane shot down by IRGC: We hope 1400 will be the year of justice

The families of the victims of the Ukrainian passenger plane shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) congratulated the Iranian people on the new year 1400 (Hours of the Islamic Revolution). Some of the families of the victims released the video on Monday, April 2, wishing that the new year 1400 (Hours of the Islamic Revolution) “will be the year of justice for all those whose spring was destroyed by the storm of oppression, and in memory of all those who did not see the blossoms of this spring.”

Another part of this Nowruz message states, "For the families of the flight, spring comes without blossoms. For the families of the flight, numbers have become meaningless. 1398, 1399, 1400, for the families of the flight, only one number remains, 752. Only one date remains, January 18."

On the morning of Wednesday, January 8, 2019, a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 passenger plane with 176 passengers en route to Kiev was shot down by two missiles fired by the Revolutionary Guards after taking off from Tehran Airport.

For several days, the Islamic Republic authorities declared the plane crash to be due to a technical fault. But at the same time, the United States specifically announced that the plane had been shot down. After a few days, the Revolutionary Guard Corps finally admitted that it had mistakenly targeted the plane. This delay in announcing the truth and the deception of the Iranian government caused public anger and protests.

The downing of the Ukrainian plane came after the Revolutionary Guards fired missiles into uninhabited areas of a US base in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of Qassem Soleimani. Canada, Britain, Afghanistan, and Sweden, whose citizens were killed in that incident, have formed a coalition to try to bring the case to a conclusion.

Source: Voice of America