2024 RT Amination Banner.gif

China Daily

Asia Pacific> Asia News> Content
Tuesday, January 14, 2020, 21:28
Iran makes arrests over plane disaster as protests rage on
By Reuters
Tuesday, January 14, 2020, 21:28 By Reuters

Debris is seen from a Ukrainian plane that crashed as authorities work at the scene in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Jan 8, 2020. (EBRAHIM NOROOZI / AP)

DUBAI/TEHRAN - Iran said on Tuesday it had arrested people accused of a role in shooting down a Ukrainian airliner and had also detained 30 people involved in protests that have swept the nation since the military belatedly admitted its error.

READ MORE: Protests erupt again in Iran after admission of plane strike

Wednesday's shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines flight 752, killing all 176 people on board, has led to one of the greatest public challenges to Iran's clerical rulers since they came to power in the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

In a step that would increase diplomatic pressure, Britain, France and Germany launched a dispute mechanism to challenge Iran for breaching limits on its nuclear programme under an agreement which Washington abandoned in 2018.

In the 10 days since the United States killed Iran's most powerful military commander in a drone strike, Tehran has faced escalating confrontation with the West and unrest at home, both reaching levels with little precedent in its modern history.

It shot down the airliner on Wednesday during a period of high alert, hours after it had fired missiles at US targets in Iraq. After days of denying a role in the crash, it admitted it on Saturday, calling it a tragic mistake.

President Rouhani promised a thorough investigation, saying those responsible would be punished and that the government would be accountable to Iranians and those nations who lost citizens

Protesters, many of them students, have since held daily demonstrations chanting "Clerics get lost!" and called for the removal of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in power for more than 30 years.

Police have responded to some protests with a violent crackdown, video posts on social media showed. Footage showed police beating protesters with batons, wounded people being carried, pools of blood on the streets and the sound of gunfire.

Iran's police denied firing at protesters. The judiciary said 30 people had been detained in the unrest but said the authorities would show tolerance towards "legal protests".

The full extent of the unrest is difficult to assess because of limits on independent reporting.

'UNFORGIVABLE ERROR'

President Hassan Rouhani promised a thorough investigation into the "unforgiveable error" of shooting down the plane, giving a television address on Tuesday, the latest in a series of apologies from a leadership that rarely admits mistakes.

Rouhani urged the judiciary to form a "special court with a senior judge and tens of experts" to investigate the crash, Xinhua reports.

Iran's judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said some of those accused of having a role in the plane disaster had already been arrested. He did not identify the suspects or say how many had been held.

Most of those on board the flight were Iranians or dual nationals. Canada, Ukraine, Britain and other nations who had citizens on the plane have scheduled a meeting on Thursday in London to consider legal action against Tehran.

The disaster and subsequent unrest comes amid one of the biggest escalations between Tehran and Washington since the revolution four decades ago that made them into foes. 

Tit-for-tat military strikes began with missiles launched at a US base that killed an American contractor in December, and reached their climax when Washington killed the architect of Iran's regional network of proxy militia, Qassem Soleimani, in a drone strike in Baghdad on Jan 3.

Iran's government was already in a precarious position, with sanctions imposed by the United States having hammered its conomy, causing public anger.

Protesters chant slogans while holding up posters of Gen. Qassem Soleimani in front of British Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Jan 12, 2020. (EBRAHIM NOROOZI / AP)

 PRESSURE

 Iran's leaders face a powerful combination of pressure both at home and abroad.

Just two months ago, Iran's authorities put down anti-government protests, killing hundreds of demonstrators in what is believed to be the most violent crackdown on unrest since the 1979 revolution.

READ MORE: Iran denies firing at protesters amid fury over downing of plane

Elsewhere in the Middle East, where Iran has wielded influence through a network of allied movements and proxies.

Governments that include powerful Iran-sponsored armed factions have faced months of hostile demonstrations in Lebanon and Iraq.

The latest video posts on social media showed protesters in Tehran and other cities. Some tore down or burned posters of Soleimani, a man portrayed for years as a national hero.

Iran's president said in his address that those responsible for shooting down the plane would be punished, describing the military's admission of its mistake "a good first step."   

Rouhani also said the government would be accountable to Iranians and those nations who lost citizens.

ALSO READ: ICAO to send experts to help probe Ukrainian jet crash in Iran

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said five of the nations whose citizens were killed in the plane disaster would meet in London on Thursday "to discuss the ways, including legal, (for) how we are following this up."

Iranian state television said aviation officials from Canada, which had 57 citizens on the doomed flight, as well as from Iran and Ukraine met in Tehran on Tuesday to discuss the investigation.

With Xinhua inputs

Share this story

CHINA DAILY
HONG KONG NEWS
OPEN
Please click in the upper right corner to open it in your browser !