Monday, January 8, marks the fourth anniversary of the establishment of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. shot down Ukraine International Airlines passenger flight PS752, killing everyone on board.
The families of the victims say that since the tragedy, the Iranian regime has targeted them and tried to silence them. But they say they are not giving in to the Islamic Republic’s intimidation tactics as they demand justice.
“We need justice,” Vahid Emami told Global News.
The Vancouver man suffered an unthinkable loss. His wife Sahand, his five-year-old daughter Sofie, his brother-in-law Alvand and his wife Negar were all killed in the doomed robbery.
Sahand, the wife of Vahid Emami.
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Sofie, Vahid Emami’s daughter.
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“I miss her so much,” Emami said as she showed Global News teams the precious crafts her daughter made, including a drawing of herself, her mother and father with the words “I love you.” .
“I will never see how she grew up and what she will look like,” Emami said.
A craft made by Vahid Emami’s daughter.
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He has since commissioned a painting of the young woman he imagines Sofie would one day have become had she not been killed.
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“I asked one of my friends to give me this painting. And I said, ‘this is Sofie,'” Emami said.
A painting commissioned by Vahid Emami, imagining his daughter if she had lived.
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What makes this anniversary even more painful is that Sofie’s grandmother in Iran, Manzar Zarabi, was arrested by Iranian security forces on October 30, 2023.
“They just took her away, beat her and put her in prison,” Emami said.
Zarabi has since been released due to health concerns. His apparent crime was attending the funeral of Armita Geravand, a woman who died weeks after being pushed around by Iran’s so-called moral police.
Geravand was injured and fell into a coma after an incident in the Tehran metro on October 1. Activists described an altercation with Iranian security agents who apprehended her because she was not wearing the mandatory hijab.
Iranian officials deny this, insisting she collapsed and injured herself due to low blood pressure. Similarly, the same statement was made about Mahsa Amini whose death sparked the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.
Zarrabi was arrested alongside prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.
“I’m angry, I’m angry, because I’m here and I can’t do anything, I’m far from them,” Emami said.
The arrest of the family matriarch sent shockwaves throughout the family.
Zarrabi’s son, Alvand Sadeghi, was married to Negar Borghei.
His mother Hoorian Sohrab and Zarrabi are now forever linked by their deceased children.
Sohrab said Zarrabi is the memory of his son-in-law. She says she is gaining strength because of it.
Alvand Sadeghi and Negar Borghei.
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Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom have filed a complaint against Iran at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, demanding accountability for the downing of Flight PS752.
“Iran’s behavior thus far in going through these steps is absolutely ridiculous,” Ralph Goodale, Canada’s special advisor for PS752. “There is no transparency. There is no liability. “
On Monday, Goodale announced that the four countries had also filed cases against Iran with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
“We will pursue Iran in two different forums under two different international treaties. What happened in the skies over Tehran that night four years ago was dangerous and posed a danger to civil aviation around the world,” he said.
The ongoing intimidation and harassment tactics are unacceptable, Goodale added.
“This is one of the dimensions of this case that is very disturbing. This is foreign interference,” he said.
Threatening, detaining or arresting family members in Iran, for example, constitutes “criminal behavior, whether domestically or internationally,” Goodale said.
“We want to get the truth out of Iran,” he added.
Goodale said the group of countries is demanding to know what happened, how it happened and why. He said they wanted Iran to take full responsibility for the disaster, apologize to the families and the civil aviation community, and put in place corrective measures to avoid that this does not happen again.
There is also the issue of reparation, restitution and compensation, according to Goodale.
“Some of their loved ones, for example, have not had their belongings restored or even properly taken care of,” Goodale said.
Goodale said the so-called Iranian investigation was anything but “independent and impartial.”
He did not have a specific timetable for what would happen next as it involves several countries and various conventions, but he noted the families’ request for interim measures and said the government was considering it.
“They have asked the government to consider asking the court for preliminary rulings, or as they call them, interim measures earlier in the process,” Goodale said.
Goodale says he has nothing but respect and admiration for the victims’ families.
“Families are extraordinary. They went through such trauma, such pain, such anguish and everything else,” he said.
“The diet and interaction add insult to injury. It is amazing how the families behaved in such a determined and dignified manner.
Emami, meanwhile, said the families would not give up.
“We will continue to fight,” he said.
If Canada is not successful in its efforts, he said he will do whatever it takes to achieve justice.
“Maybe they put me in jail or beat me or something, but I have nothing to lose.”