Grieving Toronto father walks to Ottawa to demand justice for son, PS752 victims

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Mehrzad Zarei is on the ultimate leg of his 400-kilometre stroll from Toronto to Ottawa to demand justice for his useless son and all of these killed when Flight PS752 was shot down over Iran two-and-a-half years in the past.

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The Ukraine Worldwide Airways flight was hit by two Iranian missiles after taking off from Tehran on Jan. 8, 2020. All 176 folks on board the aircraft died, together with Zarei’s 17-year-old son, Arad.

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Zarei needs a gathering with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to current him with a proper letter and his set of calls for. He expects to reach within the metropolis on Thursday.

“After 32 months, nothing has occurred and my endurance is exhausted,” Zarei stated in an interview Tuesday from Carleton Place, about 50 kilometres south-west of Ottawa.

“He (Trudeau) promised me justice and I’m so indignant why he didn’t preserve this promise. Nothing has occurred, solely candy discuss.”

In his letter, Zarei calls on the prime minister to “stand on the fitting facet of historical past” by taking motion in opposition to the Iranian regime that he blames for deliberate downing of PS752.

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He needs Canada to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group; to open an RCMP home felony case into the homicide of Canadian residents aboard the flight; to refer a case to the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice; and to use focused sanctions in opposition to senior Iranian officers.

“Now’s the time to behave: We have to present Iran we care in regards to the 176 folks Iran killed,” he stated.

The Prime Minister’s Workplace wouldn’t say Tuesday if Trudeau will meet with Zarei.

World Affairs Canada has pursued reparations from Iran as a part of a global response group that features Canada, Ukraine, Sweden and the UK, all of whom misplaced residents within the downing.

However in a press release issued earlier this yr, the response group stated makes an attempt to barter reparations with Iran have confirmed futile. “We stay united to our dedication to carry Iran accountable for the actions and omissions of its civil and army officers that led to the unlawful downing of Flight PS752 by guaranteeing that Iran makes full reparations for its breaches of worldwide legislation,” the assertion stated.

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The worldwide response group didn’t outline what subsequent steps it could take.

Zarei started his stroll to Ottawa on Aug. 10 from his son’s graveside within the Elgin Mills Cemetery, north of Toronto. He has walked about 30 kilometres a day.

Arad Zarei was a Grade 12 pupil at Richmond Inexperienced Secondary College on the time of his dying. He had visited his mom in Iran for 2 weeks and was on the primary leg of his journey residence when PS752 was shot down.

His son needed to be an aeronautical engineer, Zarei stated. “They took away my life,” he stated of his son’s dying. “For 2 years, I couldn’t work. I used to be at residence. It has destroyed my life.”

On the time of the aircraft’s downing, Iran’s defence forces have been on excessive alert in readiness for all-out struggle following missile strikes on U.S. bases. These strikes have been made in retaliation for the focused assassination of Iranian army commander, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, by a U.S. army drone.

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Flight PS752 slammed into an empty park in a Tehran suburb 4 minutes after the primary of two missiles struck the aircraft. Fifty-five of these on board have been Canadian and one other 30 have been everlasting residents of this nation.

The ultimate report of Iran’s civil aviation authority concluded that two missiles have been launched in opposition to the civilian plane as a result of an air defence unit, performing by itself, misidentified the outgoing aircraft as an incoming cruise missile. It stated the defence unit didn’t recalibrate its concentrating on system when it relocated to a brand new web site — a mistake that brought on the operator to wrongly conclude PS752 was flying towards Tehran.

The Iranian report failed to elucidate why a second missile was fired 30 seconds after the primary, or why business flights have been allowed to take off at a time when the nation was anticipating a serious assault.

A non-public investigation, led by the households of these killed, concluded Iran was intentionally utilizing business airliners as “human shields” in opposition to a possible U.S. missile assault when Flight PS752 was shot down. The households contend the aircraft was sacrificed to forestall any U.S. assault.