伊朗宣布,在继续调查上周乌克兰国际航空公司752航班意外坠落事件的同时,已有多人被捕。此次事故造成机上176人全部遇难。
三天来否认这架飞机主要载有伊朗和加拿大国民,被击落伊朗官员周六承认了该国军方的悲剧性错误。启示是装有马刺的过去三天,首都德黑兰发生了大规模反政府抗议活动,其他城市也发生了示威活动。伊朗表示,飞机上有147名乘客是伊朗人,尽管许多人是加拿大和欧洲国家的双重国籍。
伊朗司法部长易卜拉欣·赖希说:“在追查被击落飞机的案件时,无论在什么情况下,正义都会得到伸张。”德黑兰时报周二报道。据路透社报道,伊朗司法部门发言人Gholamhossein Esmaili也指出,已经有几个人被捕。
赖希补充说:“人们应该得到保证,死者及其家属的所有物质和精神权利都将得到充分实现,政府在这一问题上的立场是坚定的。”。官员们没有说有多少人被捕,也没有提供他们身份的细节。
1月11日,德黑兰阿米尔·卡比尔大学前,一名伊朗男子举着乌克兰飞机失事遇难者的照片。
新闻周刊已向伊朗外交部及其常驻联合国代表团寻求更多细节和评论。
另外,伊朗总统哈桑·鲁哈尼周二呼吁成立一个特别法庭来调查这一事件。
“这不是一个普通的案例。全世界都将监督拟议中的法庭,”鲁哈尼说德黑兰时报。“我自己,由于我对防空问题的某种了解,说在这次冒险中只有一个人不会有罪,所以还有其他一些人。”
据伊朗伊斯兰共和国通讯社报道,伊朗总检察长穆罕默德·贾法尔·蒙塔泽里表示,伊朗政府“立即”开始对坠机事件进行调查,同时对这一严重错误表示遗憾。他指出,此案需要一些时间,因为“所有方面”都需要“从法律和技术上加以考虑”。
在美国、英国和加拿大的领导人都说情报显示乌克兰飞机被伊朗袭击击落后,伊朗官员对飞机坠毁的说法有所转变,此前他们最初表示这样的错误是“不可能的”。“我希望我能死,不要目睹这样的事故,”伊朗军方航空航天主管艾米尔·阿里·哈吉扎德在向全国道歉时说。
政府宣布后,伊朗示威者于周六、周日和周一走上街头,念咒《独裁者之死》指的是该国最高领袖阿亚图拉·阿里·哈梅内伊。
伊朗人聚集在德黑兰阿姆里·卡比尔大学门口举行1月11日烛光守夜,纪念乌克兰空难的遇难者,其中一些遇难者是以前的学生。
事故发生在伊朗军方几小时后德黑兰和华盛顿之间紧张局势加剧的情况下发射导弹目标是驻扎在伊拉克的美军基地。没有美国军队在袭击中丧生,因为伊朗政府在发动袭击前已经通知了伊拉克。伊朗的报复性攻击发生在唐纳德·特朗普总统下令美国无人驾驶飞机于1月3日袭击伊朗军事领导人卡西姆·苏莱曼尼之后,有争议的决定遭到民主党人的谴责一些共和党人在华盛顿。
伊朗总统试图为伊朗军方的错误推卸责任,政府称乌克兰飞机被击落是因为它被错误地认为是一枚来袭导弹。
据伊朗塔斯尼姆通讯社报道,鲁哈尼周一表示:“人们知道这起事件是无意发生的,但应该清楚是什么条件导致了这起事件。”。他说,这起致命事故“起源于美国,是美国导致了这一事件的发生。”
但是许多伊朗示威者似乎不同意。周日,他们高呼,“他们撒谎说我们的敌人是美国。我们的敌人就在这里。”
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT IRAN'S ARRESTS AFTER DOWNING OF UKRAINIAN PLANE
Iran has announced that multiple individuals have been arrested as it continues to investigate last week's accidental downing of Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752, which killed all 176 people on board.
After denying for three days that the plane, which was carrying mostly Iranian and Canadian nationals, was shot down, Iranian officials admitted the tragic mistake by the country's military on Saturday. The revelation has spurred large anti-government protests in the capital, Tehran, over the past three days, as well as demonstrations in other cities. Iran has said that 147 of the plane's passengers were Iranian, although many were dual nationals of Canada and European countries.
"In pursuing the case of the downed plane, justice will be implemented irrespective of any circumstances," Iranian judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi said, the Tehran Times reported on Tuesday. Gholamhossein Esmaili, the spokesperson for Iran's judiciary, also noted that several people had been arrested, according to Reuters.
"People should be assured that all the material and moral rights of the deceased and their families will be fully fulfilled and the establishment is resolute with regard to this issue," Raisi added. Officials did not say how many people had been arrested or provide details about their identities.
An Iranian man holds a picture of a victim of the Ukrainian plane crash during a demonstration in front of Tehran's Amir Kabir University on January 11.
Newsweek has reached out to Iran's Foreign Ministry as well as to its permanent mission at the United Nations to ask for more details and comment.
Separately, on Tuesday Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called for the formation of a special court to investigate the incident.
"This is not an ordinary case. The entire world will monitor the proposed court," Rouhani said, according to the Tehran Times. "I myself, due to my somehow knowledge about air defense issues, say that only one person can't be guilty in this adventure, so there are some others."
Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, Iran's prosecutor general, said the government had begun pursuing the investigation into the crash "immediately," while voicing his regret over the grave mistake, Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency reported. He noted that the case would take some time, as "all aspects" needed "to be considered legally and technically."
Iranian officials' U-turn admission about the plane's downing, which came after they initially said such a mistake was "impossible," came after leaders in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada all said intelligence showed the Ukrainian aircraft had been downed by an Iranian strike. "I wish I could die and not witness such an accident," Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the Iranian military's head of aerospace, said, while apologizing to the nation.
In the wake of the government's announcement, Iranian demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, chanting "Death to the dictator" in reference to the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iranians gather for a January 11 candlelight vigil to remember the victims of the Ukrainian plane crash at the gate of Tehran's Amri Kabir University, where some of the victims were former students.
The accident occurred amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington, hours after the Iranian military fired missiles targeting military bases in Iraq housing U.S. troops. No American forces died in the attack, as the Iranian government had notified Iraq before launching the strike. Iran's retaliatory attack came after President Donald Trump ordered a U.S. drone strike to take out Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani on January 3, a controversial decision that has been condemned by Democrats and some Republicans in Washington.
Iran's president has attempted to pass the blame for the Iranian military's mistake, with the government saying the Ukrainian aircraft was shot down because it was erroneously believed to be an incoming missile.
"People know that the incident has occurred unintentionally, but it should be clear what conditions led to the incident," Rouhani said on Monday, Iran's Tasnim News Agency reported. He said the fatal accident was "rooted in the U.S., and it was the U.S. that caused such an incident to take place."
But many Iranian demonstrators appear to disagree. On Sunday, they chanted, "They are lying that our enemy is America. Our enemy is right here."