Downed Ukrainian Plane Parents Reject ‘Hush Money’

In a letter to Rostam Ghasemi, the minister of roads and urban development, published Monday, 39 parents said they instead wanted “justice.” They urged the authorities to end their “lies and cruel behavior” and “psychological pressure on the bereaved families” following the shooting down of the airliner.

The letter said any compensation – a figure of $150,000 was cited last month – was worthless, and called for “the main perpetrators including the masterminds, planners and approvers” to be “handed over” and brought “to justice.” Signatories demanded the release to bereaved families closed-circuit video footagefrom the Imam Khomeini International Airport on the day the flight took off.

Dismissing Iran’s claim that the disaster resulted from the malalignment of a mobile missile defense battery, at a time when a United States strike was feared, the parents wrote that “paying compensation before the facts are clarified, a fair trial is held, and the perpetrators of this crime are punished is nothing but hush money.”

All 176 passengers and crew on the plane died in the disaster. Some relatives of victims have described the firing of the missies as a “premeditated act.” A report from the Canadian government, which had many nationals on the place, found in 2021 that the action was “reckless” but not premeditated.