Victims’ families reject Iran’s report on plane crash
MONTREAL — Armin Morattab said the investigation by Iran into the plane crash in which his twin brother Arvin was killed confirmed his worst fears as well as those of the families of the victims.
“We were saying this from the beginning that a murderer should not investigate its own murder, but that’s what happened,” Morattab told Postmedia News on Thursday.
Ukrainian Airlines Flight PS752 crashed shortly after takeoff from the Tehran International Airport on Jan. 8, 2020. Iran’s investigation into the crash published on Wednesday concluded that the crash was caused by a missile strike from Iran’s military. That report was immediately criticized by families and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau, and on Thursday the Transportation Safety Board of Canada weighed in, saying the report raised more questions than it answered about the fatal plane crash.
The TSB called for Iran to provide more evidence, including voice recordings from the plane’s cockpit.
“In short, the report says what happened, but does not explain why,” said Kathy Fox, the chairperson of the Transportation Safety Board.
At the time, Iran had been expecting retaliation to its attacks on U.S. military targets in Iraq. Iran’s report denied wrongdoing on the part of Iran’s military, saying that radar alignment caused the plane to be mistaken for a missile by an operator who acted without authorization from superiors.
“To date, there is no evidence to support this scenario; however, it is a possible scenario to explain what happened,” Fox said.
Of the 176 victims, 55 were Canadian. A total of 138 of the plane’s passengers were bound for Canada.
Fox said the report fails to answer several key questions, among them why airspace remained open while the country was in the midst of an armed conflict with U.S. military forces based in Iraq.
The families of the victims issued a statement Thursday, saying Iran should not be permitted to escape justice for its indefensible actions.
“The Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims strongly rejects the submissions of Iran in its final technical report on the downing of Flight PS752, which appear to be mere fabrications and a continuation of a lie. The contents published in this report, as with their previous reports, contain countless inconsistencies and are grossly inadequate to justify Iran’s claims about the causes of the downing,” the families wrote. “It is unthinkable that a government can so ruthlessly murder innocent passengers as a sacrifice for its military adventurism and as a way to prevent a war in the face of its reckless behaviour. It is unbearable to confront the truth that the passengers were alive after the missile strikes to suffer in an unimaginable fear and agony through the final minutes of their precious lives. Nevertheless, it is critical to note these points as a reminder of why justice needs to be pursued.”
Garneau also rejected Iran’s report.
“The report makes no attempt to answer critical questions about what truly happened. It appears incomplete and has no hard facts or evidence. Our government, along with the Honourable Ralph Goodale, special adviser to the prime minister on PS752, has repeatedly called for a comprehensive and transparent investigation according to international standards to answer all the critical outstanding questions,” Garneau said in a statement.
The TSB added it is troubled that Iran conducted its own investigation into the actions of its military, saying the process lacks transparency.
Morattab went further, saying he believes this was an intentional action taken by the Islamic Republic.
“What are the odds that you can have so many mistakes one after another to cause this,” he asked. “You can’t buy this story. There is no proof that this is a mistake. The probability of this is very low.”