The Iranian parents of two passengers on the Ukrainian plane which was shot down “by mistake” near Tehran in January 2020 have lodged a complaint against three of the country’s top security officials, they announced Monday in a reformist daily.
“We have filed a complaint against [le secrétaire du Conseil suprême de sécurité nationale,] Ali Chamkhani, [le chef des Gardiens de la Révolution (l’armée idéologique de la République islamique d’Iran)], Hossein Salami, and [le chef de la branche aérospatiale des Gardiens,] Amirali Hajizadeh, ”said Mohsen Assadi-Lari, father of two victims, in an interview with the Shargh daily.
On January 8, 2020, Iranian armed forces shot down the Boeing on Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 to connect Tehran to Kiev, killing the 176 occupants, mostly Iranians and Canadians.
They did not admit until three days later having shot down the aircraft “by mistake”.
Mr. Assadi-Lari, Director General of International Affairs at the Ministry of Health at the time of the tragedy, and his wife lost their 23-year-old son Mohammad-Hossein and 21-year-old daughter Zeinab in the crash.
Condolences, once again
Later in the day, the Revolutionary Guards in a press release presented “once again” the condolences of their leader “to this dear family and to the other great families of the martyrs of this theft”.
“We will spare no effort to alleviate the suffering of all families,” General Hossein Salami said according to the text published on Sepah News, the official website of the Guardians.
Several dozen relatives of victims gathered on Saturday near Tehran international airport to demand justice and pay tribute to the victims, on the occasion of the second anniversary of the tragedy.
On the night of the crash, Iran’s air defenses were on high alert for fear of a US attack. The Islamic Republic expected a response from Washington after attacking a base used by the US military in Iraq, in response to the elimination of General Qassem Soleimani, architect of Iran’s regional strategy.
Iran said on Friday it had started compensating some of the families of the victims by paying “$ 150,000”, promising to pay the rest of the relatives.