Investigative report by the Association of Families of the Victims on evidence of the "deliberate" downing of the Ukrainian plane

A press conference by the Association of Families of Ukrainian Plane Victims was held online on Wednesday evening, December 25, to present parts of the association's fact-finding committee report on the evidence of the downing of Flight 752.

Javad Soleimani, a member of the association and the wife of Elnaz Nabii, one of the victims of Flight 752, attended today's meeting and said that the Islamic Republic of Iran has refused to hand over the "complete bodies" of the victims of this flight to a significant portion of the families.

He also described the Canadian government's performance in pursuing the Ukrainian plane case as "very slow."

Hamed Esmailiou, a spokesman for the association, who lost his wife and daughter on the flight, also confirmed that the reactions to the Iranian government regarding the downing of the Ukrainian plane were not "decisive."

Stating that the evidence and events show that the downing of the Ukrainian plane was "deliberate," he added: "Canada and the international community should declare the entire Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization."

Mr. Esmailiou emphasized: "We do not want a facile response to Iran."

Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 was shot down by two anti-aircraft missiles fired by the Revolutionary Guard Corps on the morning of January 8, 2019, shortly after taking off from Tehran International Airport, killing all 176 people on board, including 164 Iranians.

After several days of cover-up and contradictory and untrue statements, the Islamic Republic finally admitted that the IRGC's air defenses shot down the passenger plane, but that the shooting was caused by "human error." Ukraine, Canada, and some observers say they do not accept this claim and that the Iranian government is covering up the real reasons for this incident.

In fact, the Islamic Republic's secrecy, numerous contradictions, and numerous false claims by various Iranian government officials, including IRGC commanders, government officials, and the judiciary, have caused many to have serious doubts about the veracity of the Islamic Republic's officials' claims.

The report by the Association of Families of Ukrainian Plane Victims points to controversial evidence such as "deliberately leaving the country's airspace open in dangerous war conditions," "rerouting other flights," "complete destruction of passengers' electronic devices," and "a suspicious 57-minute delay in the flight and the evacuation of some passengers."

Accordingly, some of the results presented in this research report have not been included in any previously published reports, and some other results are based on information that has been made publicly available.

Additionally, during today's virtual meeting, Javad Soleimani, referring to statements by former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that the downing of the Ukrainian plane was likely "intentional," said that Islamic Republic officials left Iranian skies open on the night of the attack on the American base in Iraq "with the aim of creating a human shield."

Hamed Esmailiyon, spokesman for the Association of Families of Flight 752 Victims, stressed the need to "prepare an independent international report on the Ukrainian plane," saying: "We demand the full release of the contents of the plane's black box and the contents of the black box of the Tor-M1 system."

The association, which represents the families of 140 victims, has also called for the release of innocent protesters who are being held for protesting the downing of the Ukrainian plane.

There have been numerous reports of the Islamic Republic's security forces intimidating the families of those who died on Flight 752. The Canadian Intelligence and Security Agency has announced that there are "credible reports" of harassment and intimidation of the families and relatives of the victims in Canada.

Human Rights Watch also announced on June 26 that since the downing of the Ukrainian plane by the Revolutionary Guard in January 2019, the families of the victims of this flight have been systematically targeted by Iranian government officials.

The Ontario Supreme Court has previously ruled that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' missile attack on a Ukrainian passenger plane was "deliberate and terrorist." According to the ruling, a report by the then Minister of Social Security of Canada also shows that the Islamic Republic of Iran's claim that "human error" played a role in the downing of the flight is not true.

On the other hand, at the same time as the announcement of a trial to hear the charges against 10 defendants in the case of the Revolutionary Guards firing missiles at a Ukrainian plane in Tehran, a number of families of the victims of this flight gathered in front of the Tehran Military Court on November 20th and chanted slogans such as "Death to Khamenei" and "Death to the Islamic Republic."

A few days before the trial, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, said that he was not in Tehran on the day the plane was shot down and that "it took 48 hours for the initial conclusion to be reached and everyone was convinced that this happened and that we definitely have to say it."

He claimed that "permission to shoot and the order to shoot were not given, but (the person who shot) was placed in that space," and this is an issue that must be clarified by the judiciary.

The commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force also claimed on January 11, 2020, that "we witnessed this incident because of one individual's hasty decision."

These claims come as Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said that the Revolutionary Guard Corps "deliberately" shot down the passenger plane to "prevent an escalation of regional tensions between Iran and the United States."

In an interview published in the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, he stated that he had discussed this issue with Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, during his trip to Tehran.

The IRGC commanders are evading responsibility while they are not saying that on a night when, according to the IRGC commander, Iranian skies were in "very sensitive" conditions, wasn't the IRGC responsible for ensuring and following up on the cancellation of passenger flights? Did the IRGC follow up on this issue? Which entity disobeyed the IRGC's order, and what was the reason for not implementing this issue? On the other hand, if the launch of one missile was due to an "error," why was the second missile launched?

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had previously called the Iranian government's official portrayal of how the plane was shot down "hypocritical, misleading and superficial."

Source: Radio Farda