Justice in the Style of the Islamic Republic; Lawyer of Families of Ukrainian Plane Victims: 'The First Accused' is Free

The lawyer representing several families of victims from the Ukrainian plane shot down by the IRGC explained the process of the families' lawsuit against those responsible for the missile strike on the aircraft, stating that 'the first accused has been released after serving half of his sentence and due to the non-finality of the ruling.' According to Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai, complaints against aviation, military, and political officials have also been subject to the statute of limitations, and a decision to dismiss the case has been issued. Tabatabai, who represents several victim families, also mentioned that after 10 months, the Supreme Court has yet to issue a ruling in this case. This lawyer emphasized that 'many plaintiffs withdrew their complaints in protest over the handling of the case, but we, who were hopeful about the proceedings and did not withdraw our complaints, have still not reached a conclusion.' According to Alizadeh Tabatabai's statements in an interview with the 'Iran Watch' website, more than 100 families had filed complaints, of which only 12 families have not withdrawn their complaints. One of the families stated that the shooting entity was instructed to collect and destroy evidence. The newspaper 'Ham-Mihan' also published an interview today with the Asadi Lari family, who lost two children during the IRGC's downing of the Ukrainian plane, describing the ruling issued by the Islamic Republic court as 'very trivial.' In part of this interview, the Asadi Lari family referred to the failure to return the victims' belongings by security agencies, emphasizing: 'We repeatedly raised this issue both verbally and in writing during the investigation and trial phases, and we even appealed to higher authorities, but none of them took any action.' The Asadi Lari family stressed that 'we know exactly where [the belongings] are,' stating: 'This security agency, which was actually the shooting team, had the directive from the beginning to collect and destroy all electronic devices and identification cards of the passengers because they knew they were dealing with an educated group of passengers, and certainly our loved ones had started filming during those 4 minutes. If this evidence had been collected and the information that existed at that time acted upon, a substantial case would have been built against those who committed this crime.' The head of the Islamic Republic's Judicial Organization of Armed Forces announced on August 17 that the final ruling in the case of the downing of the Ukrainian plane by IRGC missiles had been issued and stated that due to the 'objections' of the victims' heirs and some defendants, the case has gone to the Supreme Court. A notable point in the statements of Ahmadreza Pourkhaghan was the objection of 'some defendants' to the case, which has also been referenced in Alizadeh Tabatabai's recent statements. Following this deadly action by the Islamic Republic, Canada, Ukraine, the UK, and Sweden, whose nationals were on that flight, have filed a complaint against the Islamic Republic at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, claiming that the Islamic Republic violated several obligations under the Montreal Convention that led to the downing of a civilian aircraft. Accordingly, despite the Islamic Republic officials deeming this complaint 'useless,' on October 13 of this year, the legal deputy of Ibrahim Raisi's government stated that 'the downing of the Ukrainian plane was 100% unintentional and we are willing to negotiate.' Complaints against Islamic Republic officials by the families of the deceased and governments are still ongoing. The Ontario Superior Court ruled that the missile strike on the Ukrainian passenger plane by the IRGC was intentional and terrorist. In Iran, however, Islamic Republic officials tried several low-ranking officials in a 'military court,' and Alizadeh Tabatabai's statements indicate that both the first accused has been released and that with the statute of limitations on complaints against officials, the case has effectively been closed. The IRGC shot down the Ukrainian plane on January 8, 2020, shortly after it took off from Imam Khomeini Airport in the outskirts of Tehran, killing all 176 passengers on board. In this context, Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, also stated that the IRGC 'intentionally' shot down the passenger plane to prevent 'increased regional tensions between Iran and the US.' Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also stated that the Islamic Republic's official portrayal of how the plane was downed is 'hypocritical, misleading, and superficial.' Numerous reports have emerged regarding the Iranian government's actions to intimidate the families of the victims of Flight 752. The Canadian Security and Intelligence Service has reported that there are 'credible reports' of harassment and intimidation of the families and relatives of the victims in Canada. Human Rights Watch has also stated that since the downing of the Ukrainian plane by the IRGC, the families of the victims have been systematically targeted for harassment by Iranian government officials. According to a notification from the Tehran Military Prosecutor's Office, which was provided to the plaintiff families in Iran 600 days after the downing of the plane, a decision to dismiss the case was issued for all main and high-ranking defendants in the case, which has been widely protested. According to this ruling, a decision to dismiss the case was issued for the main policymakers, including the Supreme National Security Council, the IRGC, the integrated air defense network, the passive defense system, the IRGC Aerospace Force, the Civil Aviation Organization, Hossein Salami, the IRGC commander, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, and Ali Abedzadeh, the then-head of the Civil Aviation Organization. Today, on Monday, January 8, several families of the victims of the Ukrainian flight gathered at the crash site in Shahid Shahr and chanted 'Shout from this injustice.' The families' continued pursuit of justice on the fourth anniversary of the downing of the Ukrainian plane; report by Behrang Rahbari. Anniversary ceremonies for the downing of the Ukrainian plane by the IRGC were held in Germany. Anniversary ceremonies for the victims of the downing of the Ukrainian plane; Meysam Salahi: We will not give up our pursuit of justice. Anniversary ceremonies for the victims of the Ukrainian plane; 'The criminals will definitely face the consequences of their actions.' Anniversary ceremonies for the fourth anniversary of the victims of the downing of the Ukrainian plane were held in Paris. Anniversary ceremonies for the victims of the downing of the Ukrainian plane in London; Azamat Azadri: Justice must be achieved. A gathering of a number of Iranians residing in Berlin on the fourth anniversary of the killing of the passengers of the Ukrainian passenger plane by the IRGC. The fourth anniversary of the downing of the Ukrainian plane; members of the families of Flight 752 emphasized the continuation of their pursuit of justice.