May 12, 2023
Iran has sentenced to prison all 10 members of the Pasdaran accused of involvement in the downing of a Ukrainian airliner, the Judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported April 16.
Iranian forces shot down Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 shortly after its takeoff from Tehran January 8, 2020, killing all 176 people on board. Most were Iranians and Canadians, including many dual nationals.
Mizan reported that the commander of the team leading the anti-aircraft missile unit that shot down the plane received the heaviest penalty of 13 years in prison for having defied orders in shooting down the plane. He was also ordered to pay financial penalties to the families of the dead, though the announcement did not say how much he should pay.
Nine other personnel were sentenced to between one and three years, Mizan reported.
The commander of the Tor M-1 surface-to-air missile system who “fired two missiles” at the airliner was not named, but earlier news reports said a person in such a position would be a Pasdar lieutenant.
Mizan said he acted “contrary to orders” and without obtaining authorization, which is what the prosecution had alleged.
Iranian officers previously said he was ordered to get clearance from higher officers before firing any missiles. The lieutenant said he tried to get permission but was unable to reach anyone as the incoming object on his radar, which he believed was an American Tomahawk missile, closed to within seconds of striking Tehran. Because of that, he said, he felt he needed to act without waiting further.
The Pasdaran denied for three days that it had fired any missiles. Finally, as officials within the regime grew more and more suspicious that the Pasdaran were lying, the Pasdaran admitted there had been a “mistake.”
“Given the extent of the effects and consequences of this action, the main defendant was sentenced to the maximum penalty,” Mizan Online said, without noting his low rank.
Iranian air defenses were on high alert in anticipation of a US counterattack after Tehran had fired missiles at a military base in Iraq that was used by American forces. Those missiles came in response to the killing in a US drone attack in Baghdad of Major General Qassem Soleymani, who headed foreign military operations of the Pasdaran.
Iran’s Judiciary said in November 2021 that a trial had opened in Tehran for 10 military members “of various ranks” in connection with the jet’s downing.
In January last year, Iran said it had begun paying compensation to the families of those killed.
Arash Khodaei, a vice president of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, said that “the sum of $150,000 has been transferred” to some families, while “the process has begun” for others.
Ukrainian and Canadian officials strongly criticized the announcement, saying compensation amounts should not be determined unilaterally. A Canadian court has awarded more than $80 million in compensation to the families of six of the victims in a decision announced that same month.
In 1988, the US Navy shot down an Iran Air flight over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 on board. The two sides reached a settlement in 1996 at the International Court of Justice under which the US paid $300,000 to the families of each of the dead. Adding in inflation, that $300,000 would equal $540,000 today or 3.6 times more than the Islamic Republic is offering the families of those killed on the Ukrainian plane.
A group of countries led by Canada called in December for an arbitrator to settle claims against Iran, a first step in possibly bringing a case at the International Court of Justice, which victims’ families have long demanded.
The association of families of the victims reiterated after the verdict that “an impartial, international court” should try the accused. There have been some conflicting figures on the nationalities aboard the plane, but the latest figures indicate the plane carried 55 Canadian citizens, 11 Ukrainians (including the nine crew members), 10 Swedes, four Britons, four Afghans and three Germans. Many of these people were Iranian-born dual nationals. That would leave 89 passengers with solely Iranian citizenship. Of those 89, however, 30 had permanent residency in Canada. Other Iranians were students in Canada.
