موت وخراب ديار والسلطات سرقت ضحايا الطائرة

Iranian officials ‘looted’ cellphones, rings, passports of plane crash victims, Canadian relatives say

مثلما يحدث مع ضحايا حوادث سير السيارات في بعض الدول والأماكن عاني أهالي ضحايا الطائرة الأوكرانية التي راح ضحيتها العديد من الأسر الكندية والمقيمين الدائمين الكنديين والذين قدر عددهم بحوالي 88 شخصا ما بين مواطن ومقيم دائم مع أطفالهم

التحقيقات التي أثبتت مسؤولية السلطات الإيرانية عن إسقاط الطائرة بالخطأ أوضحت أيضا أن السلطات الإيرانية لم تكن عند مستوى المسؤولية عندما تعاملت مع موقع الحادث حيث أفادت التحقيقات وشهادات ذوي الضحايا أن السلطات الإيرانية نهبت المتعلقات الشخصية من ذهب وحلى ونقود وحتى جوازات السفر ولم تعيدها مع الجثث أو البقايا التي ماطلت إيران في تسليمها للجانب الكندي

أحد الشهود الإيرانيين الذين تابعوا عمليات حصر متعلقات الضحايا قال إنه عثر على حقيبة تعود لأحد الضحايا الذين تم الاستدلال عليهم وكان بالحقيبة آلاف الدولارت وعندما سلمها للمسؤولين عن تلك العملية قال المسؤول إنه سوف يحتفظون بهذه النقود والمتعلقات ولن يعيدوها لأهل الضحايا

ما يزيد مأساة بعض الأسر الكندية أيضا أن السلطات الإيرانية عندما أرسلت نعوش بعض الضحايا لم تحترم حرمة الموت حيث أفاد بعض أقارب الضحايا أنهم فوجئوا بعبارات مكتوبة على النعوش تقول ” مبروك عليكم الشهادة ” حيث اشتكى هؤلاء من أن تلك العبارة تأتي على سبيل الشماتة من جانب وعلى سبيل التحذير من الشكوى من جانب آخر

يذكر أن معظم ضحايا الجانب الكندي من أصول إيرانية كما يذكر أن الجالية الإيرانية في كندا تعاني كثيرا من بعض التجاوزات من جانب السلطات الإيرانية الأمر الذي يجعلهم لايفضلون زيارة إيران حتى لا يتعرضون للمضايقات

يذكر أن العديد من أهالي الضحايا هنا في كندا يطالبون جاستن ترودو رئيس الوزراء بالضغط على إيران لتسليم الصندوقين الأسودين للطائرة للمطالبة بحقهم في التعويض ولكن الجانب الإيراني يماطل ولازال ترودو لا يفعل شيئا حيال هذه المأساة

Iranian authorities stripped the bodies of plane crash victims in January of jewellery, passports and other personal belongings before returning the remains to their loved ones

The Canadian-based relatives alleged “looting” of bodies was just one part of a nightmarish ordeal for relatives in the wake of Iran’s accidental shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752, they told a virtual news conference.

Some coffins were also inscribed with the words: “Congratulations on your martyrdom,” said Edmonton-resident Javad Soleimani, who lost his wife, Elnaz Nabiei, in the crash.

And Iranian officials called family members in Canada to tell them to stop criticizing Iran, said Hamed Esmaeilion, whose wife Parisa Eghbalian and daughter Reera, nine, were killed.

“The bodies of these innocent people were looted and improperly and indifferently interfered with, causing indignity to the remains of the murdered,” said Esmaellion. “Most of the cell phones, rings, passports, they were looted. Money, the wallets, everything. And they have photos of Iranian officials searching the bags and the luggage to find something. We don’t know what they were doing.”

Neither Iran’s diplomatic outpost in Washington, D.C., nor its representative at the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) could be reached for comment.

The looting allegation could not be independently verified Tuesday, but adds to earlier evidence that Iranian authorities treated families shabbily as the regime struggled to contain the episode’s fallout.

Various sources told the National Post in January that officials were harassing victims’ loved ones, insisting they grieve privately, allow government minders to attend memorial events and praise Tehran’s leaders.

Esmaellion and Soleimani are part of a new Canadian group, the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims, that is fighting to win support for families affected by the tragedy and a broad international investigation of the incident. It claims to represent relatives of more than 100 victims.

The group stopped short of criticizing the federal government, but suggested it had been less than aggressive in holding Tehran to account.

The Iranian government needs to disclose in more detail how a commercial airliner could be shot down by mistake, and release communications related to the incident, said Esmaellion.

“Was it intentional or not?” he said. “If it was a human error, just prove it.”

The plane crashed outside Tehran on Jan. 8, killing 176 passengers and crew in what was a largely Canadian tragedy. The victims included 55 citizens of this country and 30 permanent residents, among 138 passengers heading to Canada via Kyiv, many of them students returning after the Christmas break.

Iranian authorities originally claimed the plane’s demise was an accident, but under pressure admitted that air-defence forces had mistakenly fired two missiles at the Boeing 737 amid tension with the United States.

Nearly six months later, Iran has yet to turn over the two black boxes from the doomed plane to a country that has the technology to extract their data, despite having promised to do so.

Canadian Transportation Minister Marc Garneau urged Iran to transfer the plane’s data recorders, citing its obligations under ICAO rules.

Esmaeilion said he is “100 per cent certain” that officials took belongings of passengers. He cited early photographs of the crash scene that showed numerous possessions scattered about, and news video of an official searching through hand luggage. Some families saw photos of loved ones’ passports but never got them back, he said.

One official involved in sorting through the wreckage found the carry-on bag of a victim he knew, containing thousands of dollars in cash. He offered to return it to the family, but superiors said they would keep the material, said Esmaeilion. The relatives eventually received only an empty bag. Photos of remains released soon after the crash showed victims wearing wedding rings and other jewelry, which were never returned, he said.

“This is a story that we have heard from lots of family members. It’s not just my story.”

In Tehran to bury his wife, Edmonton’s Soleimani said he was called into a security service office to explain himself after authorities heard that he had been criticizing the Iranian government.

He said he was appalled by the inscriptions on the coffins.

“They murdered our loved ones and then said ‘Congratulations on your martyrdom?’ ”

Esmaeilion said he was among the relatively few relatives who eventually brought victims’ bodies back to Canada. But he had to ask repeatedly for permission to do so and the remains were released only after he signed a form saying his wife and daughter were Iranian nationals, not Canadian citizens. He believes Iran is trying to lessen its responsibility to the international community by claiming most of the victims are Iranian.

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