{"id":6253,"date":"2021-01-08T08:21:57","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T08:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=147493"},"modified":"2021-01-08T08:21:57","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T08:21:57","slug":"one-year-after-iran-downed-ukrainian-jet-still-no-justice-hrw-says-while-families-of-victims-are-harassed-intimidated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/08\/one-year-after-iran-downed-ukrainian-jet-still-no-justice-hrw-says-while-families-of-victims-are-harassed-intimidated\/","title":{"rendered":"One Year After Iran Downed Ukrainian Jet, Still No Justice, HRW Says, While Families Of Victims Are Harassed, Intimidated"},"content":{"rendered":"
One year after the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane in Iranian airspace, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Iran\u2019s authorities have \u201charassed and intimidated\u201d the victims\u2019 families instead of conducting a \u201ctransparent and credible\u201d investigation into the tragedy.<\/p>\n
Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran\u2019s main airport on January 8, 2020, killing all 176 on board. The majority of the victims were Iranians and Canadians, but Afghans, Britons, Swedes, and Germans were also among the dead.<\/p>\n
Iran admitted days later that its forces accidentally shot down the Kyiv-bound plane after firing two missiles amid heightened tensions with the United States.<\/p>\n
In a statement<\/a> coinciding with the first anniversary of the crash, HRW urged Iranian authorities to \u201ccommit to a genuinely transparent investigation and cooperate with international bodies to uncover the truth and provide the victims\u2019 families with justice and appropriate redress.\u201d<\/p>\n The government should \u201cpromptly pay adequate compensation to the families and carry out a transparent and impartial investigation with appropriate prosecutions regardless of position or rank,\u201d said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at the New York-based human rights watchdog.<\/p>\n The group said it had interviewed more than a dozen of the victims\u2019 family members, who said that the authorities \u201chad not returned any valuables from their loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n The authorities also \u201cintimidated and harassed families to stop them from seeking justice outside of the authorities\u2019 own judicial investigations.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, at least 20 people who participated in peaceful protests over the crash have been prosecuted, according to HRW.<\/p>\n It said two prominent activists among them were sentenced to four years and eight months and five years in prison, respectively, for participating in the demonstrations and posting about it on social media.<\/p>\n Officials from Canada and other countries whose nationals were on board have raised concerns about the lack of transparency and accountability in Iran\u2019s investigation of its own military, and called on the country to cooperate with multilateral investigative initiatives.<\/p>\n