Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, December 17, 2020—Family members of the passengers killed in a Ukrainian passenger plane shot down by the Iranian regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in January gathered on Monday, December 14, at Tehran’s Military Court. The family members were outraged that regime officials have done nothing to investigate the incident, despite a year having passed.
The families questioned regime officials’ ignorance, inaction, and cover-up and blamed them for the disasters that led to the death of all 176 passengers and crew.
On January 11, after days of secrecy, the regime was finally forced to admit that the Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 was targeted by its military units. This delayed development led to a wave of protests in Tehran and other cities.
In a meeting in the Military Court, the father of Maryam Malek, one of the victims, criticized the judge, and while having no fear of being arrested or even executed, said, “How can a bunch of criminals participate in this investigation? A year has passed! We are living in darkness!”
Mr. Maleki told the judge the regime is “unable to cooperate for an investigation to clarify the facts.”
“Mr. prosecutor! Tell us what you have done to prevent the looting of the personal belongings of our children?” Mr. Maleki said in outrage.
Victims of the crashed Ukraine Airlines that was shot down by IRGC Airforce on January 8, 2020, in Tehran.
Without a doubt, asking a criminal regime to investigate its own crime is like bringing sand to the beach. The regime has investigated none of the crimes it has committed against the Iranian people in the last 42 years. Yet, about a year ago, the regime’s suppressive forces gunned down 1,500 protesters during the November 2019 nationwide uprisings. But the regime never gave and an exact number of killed, injured or arrested. Nor did any regime officials or institutions investigated the event. They gave people nothing but lies and even prevented victims’ families to hold funerals for their loved ones.
Also, 32 years ago, regime authorities executed more than 30,000 political prisoners in a matter of weeks based on a fatwa of the regime’s then supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Again, this crime was never investigated or clarified.
Recently in a detailed letter, a group of United Nations human rights experts have warned the Iranian regime about its continued cover-up of the 1988 massacre. “We are concerned that the situation may amount to crimes against humanity,” the signatories of the letter. The letter was published on December 9, following 60 days of silence and inaction by the Iranian regime on questions posed by the human rights experts.
Therefore, dictators cannot be trusted to investigate their own crimes. This is something that the people of Iran have experienced in the last 40 years. And this is why the international must intervene and stop trusting the regime to investigate its own crimes.
