Iran not sharing evidence from airline crash with Ukraine after audio leak: official

Above, the black box of the Ukrainian aircraft that crashed near Tehran on January 8, 2020 after a being hit by Iranian missiles. (AFP)
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Updated 03 February 2020
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Iran not sharing evidence from airline crash with Ukraine after audio leak: official

  • Audio file was given to Ukrainian experts as part of a joint investigative team
  • ‘This action by the Ukrainians led to us not sharing any more evidence with them’

DUBAI: Iran is no longer sharing evidence from the investigation into the Ukraine airliner crash with Ukraine after audio from the investigation was leaked by Ukrainian media, the director in charge of accident investigations at Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization was quoted as saying on Monday.
The audio file was part of the evidence that was given to Ukrainian experts as part of the joint investigative team’s examination of the crash.
“The technical investigation team of the Ukrainian airline crash, in a strange move, published the secret audio file of the communications of a pilot of a plane that was flying at the same time as the Ukrainian plane,” Hassan Rezaifar said, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency.
“This action by the Ukrainians led to us not sharing any more evidence with them.”


Family of Palestinian-American shot dead by Israeli settler demand accountability

Updated 8 min 41 sec ago
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Family of Palestinian-American shot dead by Israeli settler demand accountability

  • Relatives say Abu Siyam was among about 30 residents from the village of Mukhmas who confronted armed settlers attempting to steal goats from the community

LONDON: The family of a 19-year-old Palestinian-American man reportedly shot dead by an Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank have demanded accountability, amid mounting scrutiny over a surge in settler violence and a lack of prosecutions.

Nasrallah Abu Siyam, a US citizen born in Philadelphia, was killed near the city of Ramallah on Wednesday, becoming at least the sixth American citizen to die in incidents involving Israeli settlers or soldiers in the territory in the past two years.

Relatives say Abu Siyam was among about 30 residents from the village of Mukhmas who confronted armed settlers attempting to steal goats from the community. Witnesses said that stones were thrown by both sides before settlers opened fire, wounding at least three villagers.

Abu Siyam was struck and later died of his injuries.

Abdulhamid Siyam, the victim’s cousin, said the killing reflected a wider pattern of impunity.

“A young man of 19 shot and killed in cold blood, and no responsibility,” he told the BBC. “Impunity completely.”

The US State Department said that it was aware of the death of a US citizen and was “carefully monitoring the situation,” while the Trump administration said that it stood ready to provide consular assistance.

The Israeli embassy in Washington said the incident was under review and that an operational inquiry “must be completed as soon as possible.”

A spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces said troops were deployed to the scene and used “riot dispersal means to restore order,” adding that no IDF gunfire was reported.

The military confirmed that the incident remained under review and said that a continued presence would be maintained in the area to prevent further unrest.

Palestinians and human rights organizations say such reviews rarely lead to criminal accountability, arguing that Israeli authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers accused of violence.

A US embassy spokesperson later said that Washington “condemns this violence,” as international concern continues to grow over conditions in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians and human rights groups say Israeli authorities routinely fail to investigate or prosecute settlers accused of violence against civilians.

Those concerns were echoed this week by the UN, which warned that Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank may amount to ethnic cleansing.

A UN human rights office report on Thursday said that Israeli settlement expansion, settler attacks and military operations have increasingly displaced Palestinian communities, with dozens of villages reportedly emptied since the start of the Gaza war.

The report also criticized Israeli military tactics in the northern West Bank, saying that they resembled warfare and led to mass displacement, while noting abuses by Palestinian security forces, including the use of unnecessary lethal force and the intimidation of critics.

Neither Israel’s foreign ministry nor the Palestinian Authority has commented on the findings.