Endless Lies of a Crime; What Trial, What Verdict?

Hassan Rouhani, the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, on the eve of the anniversary of the downing of the Ukrainian passenger aircraft, said: “The perpetrators of this incident must be tried in a fair court, and the government insists on this matter, and the judiciary will certainly carry out this task.”

The one-year performance of all institutions and officials of the Islamic Republic, from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as the agent of shooting down the aircraft and the deaths of 176 passengers to the judiciary that has taken on investigating this case, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the government that have been in contact and dialogue with the families of the victims and the countries concerned in this crime, leaves little hope for accepting the claim that the Islamic Republic is truly seeking to clarify the reasons for firing at a passenger aircraft and punishing the commanders and perpetrators of it in a transparent process.

Hassan Rouhani spoke of the government’s emphasis on the necessity of holding a “fair trial for those responsible for the incident” while Ali Fadavi, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, explicitly stated on December 7, 2019 that: “Judicial investigations into the downing of the Ukrainian passenger aircraft by firing the Guards’ missiles have been completed, and only the judge’s ruling remains to be written.”

He, who had also reported the simulation of firing at the aircraft, said: “Our emphasis is that both the judge’s ruling and the obligation to pay diya (blood money) to the martyrs of this tragedy be determined before its anniversary.”

A month after these statements, now Hassan Rouhani, by emphasizing the necessity of holding a trial for those responsible for the tragedy, effectively confirms that the statements of the deputy commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps are not true and should be considered as another lie in the continuation of previous lies by various officials of the Islamic Republic in this case.

According to Ali Fadavi’s promise, it was now time for the commanders and perpetrators of the tragedy to be introduced and the punishment determined for them to be announced, but since no such action has been taken, contrary to his explicit promise, Gholamhossein Esmaili, the spokesman of the judiciary, ultimately entered the field and announced: “The investigation into the case of the victims of the Ukrainian aircraft has been completed and will be sent from the military prosecutor’s office to the court by the end of Dey month.”

The statements of the families of the victims also show that no specific action has been taken in this regard. A number of members of these families recently appeared in the Tehran military prosecutor’s office and, protesting the process of investigating their complaint, demanded the resignation of some officials.

Like many cases that have never been resolved, the survivors of the victims, above all else, want the truth to be revealed; a matter that, given the Islamic Republic’s track record, offers little hope of being realized.

Various officials of the Islamic Republic, both in the Guards and in the government, after several days of concealment, deception and lies, finally succumbed to the pressure of public opinion inside and outside the country and admitted that the aircraft was shot down with the Guards’ missiles, but declared the reason to be merely “human error.”

Although both the families and the governments of Ukraine and Canada rejected this claim and said that allowing the flight and then firing at a passenger aircraft on January 8 of last year is something beyond “human error,” there is no sign that the judiciary, even if it issues a ruling, will go beyond any claim made by the officials of the Islamic Republic as defendants in this case and take a step to clarify the truth of the matter.

In this regard, all institutions, organizations and various government sectors, from the three branches of government to the armed forces, have been in complete alignment and harmony.

In such a case, there is no room for displaying the “hardline” and “moderate” nature of different factions of the ruling system. While the judiciary and security apparatus within the country are engaged in suppressing any protest against the missile strike on the passenger aircraft and then the manner of handling the case, simultaneously, the government and at its head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, play a similar role on the international stage and by rejecting the petition of the families of the victims, seek to make international pursuits, especially by Ukraine and Canada, futile and fruitless.

From the perspective of those who seek to clarify the various dimensions of the truth and the real reasons for such a tragedy, officials speaking of diya (blood money) and calling the victims “martyrs” is part of this process of lies and concealment to prevent the truth from being revealed.

Both the families and the Ukrainian government have explicitly announced that before determining compensation, the real reasons for allowing the flight and then firing at the Ukrainian passenger aircraft must first be clarified.

But bringing the discussion to the payment of compensation of $150,000 for each of the victims and also considering some of the passengers who were Iranian citizens as “martyrs,” will never result in identifying and punishing the main commanders and perpetrators and consequently preventing similar tragedies.

The Islamic Republic’s refusal to identify the commanders and perpetrators of this crime is merely another manifestation of the irresponsibility of officials who, over the past four decades, have become accustomed to ignoring questions, not being accountable, and prioritizing the interests of the ruling groups over the wishes and national interests.

Source: Radio Farda