Canada's Trudeau says evidence indicates Iran shot down Ukraine jet

OTTAWA—Canada has intelligence from multiple sources indicating a Ukrainian airliner that crashed on Wednesday near Tehran was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.

US officials had earlier said the airliner was most likely brought down accidentally by Iranian air defenses. All 176 people on board, including 63 Canadians, were killed.


"We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile," Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa.

"This may well have been unintentional. This new information reinforces the need for a thorough investigation into this matter," he continued.

Trudeau said his government would not rest until it had obtained closure, transparency, accountability and justice.

He also said he had spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who told him that Iran would allow investigators from Kiev into the country.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Soleimani, 'living martyr' who rose above Iran rifts

TEHRAN, Iran—The millions who turned out across Iran to mourn General Qasem Soleimani have testified to the apparent across-the-board popularity of a figure hailed as a "living martyr" for the Islamic republic. 

Rising above divisions in Iran, funeral processions for the Revolutionary Guard commander assassinated in a US drone strike last week in Baghdad drew massive crowds between Sunday and Tuesday in the cities of Ahvaz, Mashhad, Tehran, Qom and finally Kerman, his hometown.

"The last time I remember such a crowd was at Ayatollah (Ruhollah) Khomeini's funeral 30 years ago," prominent Iranian journalist Maziar Khosravi said of the turnout in the capital, referring to the founder of the Islamic republic.

The show of national unity has contrasted sharply with the downbeat mood in the country since nationwide demonstrations that were violently put down by security forces in November.

Soleimani, killed at the age of 62, had been at the center of power-broking in the region for 2 decades as chief of the elite external operations Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards.


Powerful and always presentable, yet discreet, he was also a popular figure during his lifetime, not just in death.

A survey published in 2018 by IranPoll and the University of Maryland—one of the few considered reliable by analysts—found Soleimani had a popularity rating of 83 percent, ahead of President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

ROOTS OF POPULARITY

Declared a "living martyr" by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei while still alive, Soleimani was widely regarded as a hero for his role in defeating the Islamic State jihadist group in both Iraq and Syria.

In the eyes of many Iranians, his military and strategic prowess were instrumental in warding off the multi-ethnic disintegration of neighboring countries such as Afghanistan as well as Syria and Iraq.

In a rare tribute to his status, a mosque in Qom, the spiritual capital of Shiite Iran, hoisted the red flag symbolizing the blood of martyrs that is traditionally reserved for the Islamic holy month of Muharram.

Khosravi, the journalist, noted that huge crowds from different sectors of society had also turned out to mourn and pay tribute to Soleimani in Ahvaz, capital of the down-at-heel province of Khuzestan and a hotspot in last year's protests.

Hassan Razavi, a lawyer and University of Tehran teacher, explained the roots of the general's popularity at home.

"What people liked about him is that while some other military commanders after the Iraq-Iran war shifted their life toward politics and economy, he continued his role in the military," said Razavi.

He was seen to have played a "significant role in pushing (late Iraqi dictator) Saddam Hussein's army out of the country" during the devastating war that raged between the 2 neighbors from 1980 to 1988.

"People witnessed that he never took financial advantage of his position for his personal life," the lawyer said.

And, "he was so courageous that instead of leading the war out of war rooms far from the battlefield, he was in the middle of the battlefield on the frontline with his soldiers," Razavi said.

Whereas previously he kept out of the limelight, Soleimani had in recent years become an unlikely celebrity in Iran—replete with a huge following on Instagram.

His profile shot up as the public face of Iran's intervention in the Syrian conflict from 2013, appearing in battlefield photos, documentaries—and even being featured in a music video and animated film.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Saudi condemns 15 to death for spying for Iran

A Saudi court Tuesday sentenced 15 people to death for spying for the kingdom's rival Iran, local media and a source close to the case said, in a move likely to heighten regional tensions.

The source told AFP that most of the 15 Saudis were members of the kingdom's Shiite minority.

Tehran swiftly denied the espionage charges and urged Saudi Arabia not to "seek to bring baseless accusations against Iran with the intention of political gains and increasing tensions in the region".

The espionage trial opened in February, a month after Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Tehran over the burning of the Saudi embassy and a consulate by Iranian demonstrators protesting against the kingdom's execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

The most serious charge levelled against the accused was high treason.

Prosecutors also alleged the accused had divulged defence secrets, tried to commit sabotage and recruit moles in government departments, to send coded information, and supported "riots" in the Shiite-dominated eastern district of Qatif, Saudi media reported.

The 15 were among a group of 32 people tried over the espionage allegations, Alriyadh newspaper said.

Some of the defendants were accused of meeting Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The death sentences will be appealed, said the source close to the case, who cannot be identified due to its sensitivity.

Two of the group were acquitted while the rest received jail sentences of between six months and 25 years.

Apart from one Iranian and an Afghan, all the defendants were Saudis. The source said that one of those acquitted was a foreigner.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said Riyadh had not passed on "any information to the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding the alleged Iranian person" in the trial.

Amnesty International, in a statement, called Tuesday's sentence "a travesty of justice and a serious violation of human rights".

"Sentencing 15 people to death after a farcical trial which flouted basic fair trial standards is a slap in the face for justice," said Amnesty's Samah Hadid.

- Syria, Yemen tensions -

Adam Coogle, a Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW), told AFP that the trial was "flawed from the beginning".

It was tainted by allegations that the accused did not have access to lawyers during interrogation, Coogle said.

They were also charged with offences that do not resemble recognisable crimes, including "supporting demonstrations", attempting to "spread the Shia confession" and "harming the reputation of the kingdom", he said.

"Criminal trials should not be merely legal 'window-dressing' where the verdict has been decided beforehand," he said.

HRW earlier cited a lawyer who represented some of the accused until March as saying the timing of the case "may relate to ongoing hostility between Iran and Saudi Arabia".

All but one of the accused had been detained since 2013.

The region's leading Shiite and Sunni powers are at odds over a range of issues including the wars in Syria and Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has also expressed concern over an international agreement that lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for guarantees it would not pursue a nuclear weapons capability.

Riyadh fears the pact will lead to more Iranian "interference" in the region.

With relations at a low, Iranian pilgrims in September -- for the first time in nearly three decades -- did not attend the annual hajj in Saudi Arabia after the two countries failed to agree on security and logistics.

Nimr, the executed cleric whose case sent tensions soaring, was a driving force behind protests that began in 2011 among the Shiite minority, most of whom live in the kingdom's east which faces Iran across the Gulf.

The protests developed into a call for equality in the Sunni-dominated kingdom, where Shiites have long complained of marginalisation.

Nimr was convicted of terrorism and executed in January alongside 46 other people -- mostly Sunnis -- found guilty of the same crime.

Rights activists say more than two dozen other Shiites are on death row in Saudi Arabia.

source: news.abs-cbn.com