Those responsible for the crash of a Ukrainian Boeing in Iran have been arrested, justice spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili announced on Tuesday. He was mistakenly shot down by an Iranian missile near Tehran, killing 176 people.
These are the first arrests announced by Tehran since the January 8 crash of the plane, which was carrying mostly Iranians and Canadians, hours after Iranian missile strikes against military bases in Iraq in retaliation five days earlier to the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani. "A huge investigation has been carried out and people have been arrested," said Gholamhossein Esmaili, who was speaking at a televised press conference. He did not give the number of people arrested.
A soldier's "independent" decision
After denying the hypothesis that the Ukrainian International Airlines plane could have been shot down by an Iranian missile, the Iranian armed forces admitted on Saturday their responsibility in this drama, citing "human error".
Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh, commander of the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace branch, took on "total responsibility" on Saturday, saying the soldier in charge had acted independently. "Many investigations have been carried out (...) and each evening our judicial team was looking for documents," Gholamhossein Esmaili said on Tuesday.
Wave of indignation in Iran
President Hassan Rohani assured earlier Monday that his country should "punish" all those responsible for this tragedy. "The justice system must form a special tribunal with high-ranking judges and dozens of experts (...) the whole world will watch," he said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that justice would be "done" and all the countries affected by the tragedy - Canada, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Sweden and Afghanistan - are pressing for Iran is conducting a transparent investigation. The announcement of the responsibility of the armed forces created a shock in Iran and a wave of indignation. On Monday, according to videos circulating on social networks, Iranians took to the streets for the third consecutive day and seemed to chant slogans against the authorities.
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