UK and four other countries demand justice from Iran over downed plane
8 January 2021, 13:54
The shooting down happened on the same night Iran attacked US soldiers in Iraq in response to the death of Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike.
The UK and four other countries whose citizens were killed when Iran accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jetliner said they want Tehran “to deliver justice and make sure Iran makes full reparations to the families of the victims and affected countries”.
In a joint statement marking the one-year anniversary of the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crash, Ukraine, France, Canada, the UK and Sweden said they want Tehran “to provide a complete and thorough explanation of the events and decisions that led to this appalling plane crash”.
Sweden earlier had said that Iran had agreed to compensate the families’ of the foreign victims.
The shooting down by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard happened the same night Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targeting US soldiers in Iraq, its response to the American drone strike that killed Guard General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad on January 3.
The plane was en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
The victims included 57 Canadian citizens as well as 11 Ukrainians, 17 people from Sweden, four Afghans and four British citizens.
British citizens Sam Zokaei, Saeed Tahmasebi Khademasadi and Mohammad Reza Kadkhoda Zadeh were identified as among the dead.
Mr Tahmasebi’s wife, Niloufar Ebrahim, was also among those killed.
She was not yet a British citizen but was planning to settle in the UK with her new husband.
Arad Zarei, a 17-year-old former London schoolboy who had relocated to Canada, was also named as a victim.
Those from Sweden included both Swedish nationals and people with staying permits in the Scandinavian country.
At first, Iran had denied its involvement in the plane crash but then announced that its military had mistakenly and unintentionally shot down the Ukrainian jetliner.
The statement was signed by ministers of Afghanistan, Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
