Calls for justice as 3rd anniversary of downing of flight Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752 approaches | 24CA News

Sunday will mark the three-year anniversary of the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, and for Surrey’s Shahrokh Ferdowsi the ache continues to be uncooked.

On Jan. 8, 2020, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shot the airplane down shortly after takeoff from Tehran, killing all 176 passengers and crew aboard.

Fifty-five Canadian residents and 30 everlasting residents died within the catastrophe, together with Ferdowsi’s cousin, Dr. Farhad Niknam, a Toronto dentist returning residence from a Christmas go to along with his spouse and kids in Iran.

“I really miss him, I miss his voice, I miss his presence, I wish he was here,” Ferdowsi advised Global News by tears.

“The only thing that they found of his belongings was a pouch he had around his waist and a photo album.”

2:06
Demonstrators demand justice for victims of Flight PS752 forward of 3-year anniversary

The photograph album was turned to a web page with footage of Niknam’s youngsters.

The remaining report from Iran’s civil aviation physique blamed “human error” for the incident claiming a missile operator misidentified the airliner as a “hostile target” amid rising tensions with the U.S., and fired with out getting approval from a superior — a report criticized sufferer’s households worldwide.

The airplane was destroyed after being struck by two missiles fired 30 seconds aside.

Ferdowsi mentioned he thinks usually about what the ultimate moments of his pal’s life had been like, within the 30 seconds between these two impacts.

“My guess is the very last moment of his life he opened up the album and was looking at the photos knowing that he was going to die,” Ferdowsi mentioned.

Among the Canadian victims had been docs, dentists, lecturers, a five-year-old baby and a newlywed couple.

“Plus, one of the other passengers was five months pregnant,” Ferdowsi mentioned.

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Pressure mounting on Iran over Flight PS752

Supporters, mates and households of the victims say there has but to be justice or accountability for Iran over the tragedy, or an affordable clarification of why the civilian plane was focused.

Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Ukraine — the 4 international locations accounting for almost all of the victims, have joined collectively right into a coordination group in search of to carry Iran to account for the incident.

Last month, they collectively despatched a diplomatic be aware to Iran, demanding it participate in arbitration underneath the phrases of the 1971 Montreal Convention, a global treaty Iran has additionally signed.

That treaty requires states to forestall and punish offences towards civil aviation. If the international locations can’t settle the dispute inside six months, Iran will be prosecuted within the International Court of Justice.

Three years later, Iran now finds itself on the centre of one other human rights disaster, accused of brutalizing and killing a whole bunch of civilians amid persistent anti-government protests, spurred by the demise of 22-year-old Masha Amini

“I really feel like we are part of a river, we are just swimming in this river, that just every day we add to it, the victims just keep coming in, it’s just getting gibber and bigger,” Fedowsi mentioned.

“And now my fear is that this river is going to turn into an ocean soon. There are just so many victims, like my cousins, that have been hurt by the system.”

Families of the victims of Ukraine Airlines Flight PS752 will maintain rallies in additional than 100 cities on Sunday to mark the third anniversary of the airplane’s downing.

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