Iran Arrests Six People over Downing of Ukrainian Jetliner

Photo by Borna Qassemi, ISNA

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Judiciary Spokesman Gholam-Hossein Esmaeili said six people have been arrested over the accidental shootdown of the Ukrainian passenger plane.

Three of the six arrestees have been released on bail, but the others are still in custody, he added.

Esmaeili announced on Tuesday that a special court-martial has been established to hear the case of the plane crash, noting that 70 families have so far come to the court and laid their claims before the investigator.

Back on April 4, Shokrollah Bahrami, head of the Judicial Organization of the Iranian Armed Forces, said one person had been detained and several others had been summoned to appear before the court for the downing of the passenger plane by the IRGC air defence missile.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Tehran to Kiev operated by Ukraine International Airlines (UIA). On 8 January 2020, the Boeing 737-800 operating the route was shot down shortly after take-off from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport. All the 176 passengers and crew were killed.

According to Iranian officials, 146 passengers used an Iranian passport to leave the country, 10 used an Afghan passport, five used a Canadian one, four a Swedish one, and two used Ukrainian passports.

The Ukrainian government, however, says there were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians (mostly Iranian-Canadian dual nationals), 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, 7 Afghans, and 3 Britons on the plane, which was accidentally shot down by Iran’s Air Defence.