Iran Claims Key Suspect In Ukrainian Airliner Downing Still Detained

During the Monday ceremony, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government is looking at ways to list the Guards, which shot down the Ukrainian airliner by two missiles shortly after taking off from Tehran on January 8, 2020, killing all 176 people onboard, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.

He criticized the Iranian government's "disregard for the rule of law" and expressed Canada's ongoing efforts to responsibly designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization, citing sanctions against select IRGC officials.

"We know there is more to do to hold the regime to account and we will continue our work, including continuing to look for ways to responsibly list the IRGC as a terrorist organization," Trudeau said. 

The Iranian government claimed in a 2021 report that the airliner was shot down accidentally after being "misidentified" by an air defense unit as a "hostile target" — a conclusion Canadian safety officials say Iran failed to support with evidence.

Canada has been wrestling with designation of the IRGC as a terrorist entity for years, but calls grew louder after the Flight PS752 incident. Canada’s federal government has referred to the IRGC as a terrorist organization, described its leadership as terrorists, announced measures to make its senior members inadmissible to Canada, and has listed the outfit’s extraterritorial expeditionary division Quds Force as a terrorist entity. 

However, despite numerous calls from the federal Conservative party, activists and even US lawmakers as well as the families of victims of the Ukrainian flight, the government has refused to designate the whole entity as a terrorist entity under the country’s Criminal Code. In June, Canada's Senate passed a non-binding motion to designate the the Guards as a terror organization, echoing a similar motion in 2018. The country's Liberals supported the Tory motion in the House of Commons back in 2018, but have not done so since. 

Trudeau’s government argues that such a listing would be a blunt-force approach that could affect low-level people who were forced to serve in the force as part of their mandatory military service. According to the CIA, conscripts make up more than 50 percent of the IRGC.

In addition to the prime minister, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez and Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman attended Monday's ceremony in Richmond Hill. 

Lantsman, who serves as Canada’s opposition deputy, criticized Trudeau's government for its handling of Iranian officials on Canadian soil, promising a definitive designation of the IRGC as a terrorist group. Canada’s Official Opposition emphasizes the need to end legal activities of IRGC members in Canada and their luxurious lifestyles funded by embezzled Iranian money.

Lantsman repeated her party's call to designate the IRGC a terrorist organization, saying "This evil act of murder ... underscored a truth that our country has known for a very long time — the IRGC is a terrorist group." 

She highlighted that “the IRGC terrorists have given safe harbor in Canada by a Liberal government without the courage to ban them. To this day, over 700 IRGC terrorists have been able to legally operate on our soil and live in luxury with the money they stole from the Iranian people.” 

Critics argue that existing measures, including expanded sanctions and amendments to the Magnitsky legislation, are insufficient to address the issue of regime-connected officials residing in Canada. The debate surrounding the designation of the IRGC continues, with members of the diaspora expressing concerns about accountability for crimes committed abroad by those holding Canadian citizenship.

In November, the Canadian opposition leader, running to be the next prime minister, said the IRGC poses the most significant security threat to his country. Describing the IRGC as the “most sophisticated, well-financed terror group on Planet Earth,” Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada's Conservative Party, said that the group was also behind the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, and is an ally of Hezbollah, which has been designated in Canada as a terrorist group.

The ceremony for the fourth anniversary of the downing of Flight PS752 was held a few hours after Canada, Britain, Ukraine, and Sweden filed a complaint with the UN civil aviation agency against Iran. The four countries, announcing their complaint to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, said Tehran had used “weapons against a civil aircraft in flight in breach of its international legal obligations." 

The Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 was downed by two air-defense missiles fired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shortly after departing from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport.

In a message released on various social media platforms on Monday, coinciding with the fourth anniversary of the downing of the Ukrainian passenger plane by Revolutionary Guard missiles over Tehran, Prince Reza Pahlavi underscored that the survivors of the victims continue to seek justice.

In the message, he stated: "Four years ago, the Revolutionary Guard committed a heinous act, killing 176 passengers of the Ukrainian plane. After four years, the families of the victims are still seeking justice."

Pahlavi said, "The perpetrators and planners of that terrorist act along with their leader, Ali Khamenei, should know that they cannot escape justice. One day, not long from now, the Iranian nation will try them and hold them to account in a free and fair trial."

Pahlavi's message was released simultaneously with the commemoration ceremony of the fourth anniversary of the incident held in Shahedshahr, Tehran, the site of the plane's downing. Government forces prevented citizens from attending and joining the families of the victims during the ceremony.

Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei stated that “prosecutors should not overlook the actions of those who, following the Kerman incident, supported the enemy, whether in legal or illegal domains.” The comments come in the wake of two explosions during the fourth memorial of former IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani on January 3, that killed around 90 people.

Iranians have been demanding answers as to why the government failed to ensure the security of the gathering, and why senior officials did not attend, insinuating foreknowledge by the government.

In response, at least 9 social media users have been arrested for their critical comments.

Deputy Police Chief Ramin Pashaei revealed on Saturday the identification of 500 internet pages deemed "insulting to the martyrs of Kerman," with operators under cyber surveillance and some facing warnings to remove criminal content.”"

Reports indicate citizens in various cities, including Tehran, Yazd, Bushehr, Semnan, and North Khorasan, have been detained for allegedly “insulting Qasem Soleimani and his anniversary ceremony.”

Morteza Motiee, the representative of the Supreme Leader in Semnan province, condemned those attributing the Kerman incident to the Islamic Republic, accusing them of "following the devil.”

Meanwhile, Ali Shamsipour, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Science, threatened to expel students critical of the government for the Kerman terrorist incident.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) shot down the Ukrainian airliner shortly after it took off from Imam Khomeini International Airport near the capital Tehran on January 8, 2020. All 176 onboard the plane were killed in the incident.

The downing of the plane by two surface-to-air defense missiles, came a few hours after Iran fired missiles at US military bases in Iraq in retaliation for the US drone strike in Baghdad that killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of IRGC’s extraterritorial Quds Force.

The four countries, announcing their complaint to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, said Tehran had used “weapons against a civil aircraft in flight in breach of its international legal obligations."

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the filing was "an important step in our commitment to ensuring that the families of the victims impacted by this tragedy get the justice they deserve."

Iranian authorities for three days claimed technical issues were responsible for the crash. Subsequently and under public and international pressure, Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, the chief of IRGC air operations responsible for airspace security, attributed the downing of the airliner to “human error” of the air defense. The IRGC also alleged that the “risky behavior” of the United States had caused the incident.

Victims’ families chanting “What an agony is this injustice!” at the anniversary ceremony.

Iranian authorities have never explained the reason for not closing the country’s airspace amid such heightened military tensions and allowed flights out of the country’s biggest international airport as usual.

Some of the victims’ families and many Iranians have always alleged that the IRGC intended to use the plane as a human shield on the night of the missile attack on US bases and the downing of the plane was therefore "premeditated”.

A group of victims’ families convened at the site of the crash on Monday to commemorate their loved ones. In their speeches, they condemned the regime’s “fake trial” of those responsible for the tragedy. Some, like Fatemeh Arsalani who lost her son, daughter-in-law, and grandchild fearlessly cursed the Islamic Republic and the Revolutionary Guards.

Manzar Zarrabi who lost four of her loved ones reading the statement of the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims at the anniversary ceremony. 

A source close to the families told Iran International in October 2020 that the IRGC was using threats of murder and torture to silence those among victims’ families who were contesting the official explanation of "human error" for shooting down the plane.

“Don’t you think you can frighten a person who has nothing to lose with threats of torture and death,” Touran Shamsollahi who lost her daughter-in-law and granddaughter in the crash said. She vowed to stand “to the end” beside her son, Canada-based Hamed Esmaeilion who has made many efforts to bring the Islamic Republic to justice.

The Association of Families of Flight PS752 as well as Canada, Britain, Ukraine, and Sweden had previously brought the case before the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, International Court of Justice (ICI), in the Hague.

Ukraine and Canada which had 63 citizens on the flight have always complained about Iran's uncooperativeness in investigation of the cause of the incident.

Many among the families of the victims were outraged by the light sentencing of those responsible for the tragic crash and refuted the court’s competence to prosecute the crime of downing the airliner.

Iran's judiciary sentenced the unnamed commander of the IRGC’s Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile system that shot down the plane to 13 years of which he would only be required to serve 10 years including the time he has already spent in prison. Nine others were also sentenced to from one to two years.

Mahmoud Alizadeh-Tabatabei, a lawyer who represented the families of several victims, told Didban news website Monday that the unnamed commander was the only one who was imprisoned but has been released on bail because the sentences passed on the defendants have not been finalized.

In an interview with Lebanon's Al-Ahed news, the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Syria, Hossein Akbari stated that “approximately ten days ago, a delegation from an Arab Persian Gulf country visited Tehran, carrying a message from the Americans.”

"They [Americans] called for a resolution to the crisis in the entire region," he added, looking to Iran whose proxies in Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon have all been carrying out attacks on US facilities in the region and Israel, in the wake of the Iran-backed Hamas war on Israel.

No independent source has confirmed Akbari's claim, and US authorities have not issued any response.

The revelations come as Israel has been stepping up attacks on Iran-linked operations in Syria, including killing a senior Quds Force commander and taking out weapons shipments. On Monday, Israel assassinated a top Hezbollah commander in Lebanon, just days after eliminating the deputy political leader of Hamas in Beirut.

Naser Kanaani, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, indirectly confirmed the reception of a message from the United States to Iran during a press briefing in Tehran on Monday, while the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tours the Middle East in a bid to bring peace to the region.

While the Islamic Republic claims the decision for the recent attacks was made independently by its proxies groups, the United States holds Tehran primarily responsible. It has formed a more than 20-nation coalition to combat the blockade of the Red Sea by Yemen's Houthis, which has become a major threat to global trade.

While the US has been attacked more than 100 times since the Gaza war was triggered by Hamas's invasion of Israel, only a handful of responses have been levied by the Biden administration.