Iran’s judiciary sentenced ten members of its air defence forces to prison terms ranging from one to thirteen years for their involvement in the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 near Tehran on 8 January 2020. The event resulted in the deaths of all 167 passengers and nine crew members on board.
Among the victims were 82 Iranian nationals, 63 Canadians, eleven Ukrainians (the nine crew members and two passengers), ten Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons.
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Condemnations over the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752
Local media confirm the convictions, although due to the secrecy that characterises the current Iranian regime, the names of those involved have not been made public.
The main suspect, identified only as the commander of the Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile defence system, received a discretionary 13-year prison sentence for failing to obey orders and being an accessory to “semi-intentional” murder. Nine other military personnel were sentenced to between one and three years in prison.
However, victims’ families and officials in Ukraine and Canada condemn the lack of transparency: they claim that this is a bogus ruling and that the Iranian authorities failed to prosecute those ultimately responsible. A Canadian court ruled in 2021 that the downing was an act of terrorism.
International pressure and “human error”
On 8 January 2022, Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 registered UR-PSR was operating Flight 725. It had departed from Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKA) in Tehran for Boryspil International Airport (KBP) in Kiev. A few minutes after take-off, the aircraft was hit by a missile and crashed.
Shortly after the impact, local media had already attributed the cause of the crash to a mechanical failure. However, the United States (with whom Iran had a particularly tense situation during those days) reported a few hours later that Iranian forces had shot down the plane.
American and allied countries intelligence services established that a Tor-M1 missile had hit Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752. International pressure on Iran to take responsibility grew rapidly.
Three days after the event, the Islamic republic’s military confessed to accidentally shooting down the Boeing 737-800 and attributed it to a “human error” as a result of “a sharp and unexpected turn” of the aircraft towards a nearby military base.
At the time they said the aircraft had taken “the flight posture and altitude of an enemy object” as it approached a Revolutionary Guard Corps base, causing confusion among those monitoring the airspace and the decision to launch the missile.
