Participating in a ceremony to mark the victims of the incident, which happened near Tehran when the Ukrainian airplane was mistakenly downed a few minutes after takeoff on January 8, 2020 leaving all 176 passengers dead, Ghazizadeh Hashemi told correspondents on Friday that the Martyr and Veterans Affairs Foundation continue coordination with families of other victims of the incident to pave the ground for the designation of the victims as martyrs.
However, he noted, some of the passengers of the flight were not Iranian nationals; therefore, they cannot be labeled as martyr.
The official went on to say that in accordance to the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran the Iranian victims of the incident are considered as martyrs and their families can be provided with services that the Foundation presents.
He also expressed hope that the legal procedures of the flight incident would come to an end and those who have made the mistake could be identified in order to appease bereaved families.
“We have come to graves of five victims of the Ukrainian plane incident at Behesht Zahra cemetery to convey the condolence messages from heads of three branches of the government especially the president to the bereaved families,” he noted, adding that the graves of the victims are in 14 provinces of Iran; so, officials are scheduled to pay tribute to their graves.
The Martyr and Veterans Affairs Foundation plans to visit families of the victims and condole with them in coming days concurrent with the second anniversary of the incident, he added.
Following the bitter incident, the Islamic Republic of Iran expressed readiness to compensate for the victims.
1424
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