On January 7, 2020, Parisa Eghbalian called her husband, Hamed Esmaeilion, to notify him that she and her nine-year-old daughter, Reera Esmaeilion, were heading to Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, a four-hour drive away. where they were staying. It was the last time that Hamed Esmaeilion would speak to his wife or make his daughter laugh.
“I knew she was at the airport, so an hour later, I heard about Iran attacking US bases in Iraq and I panicked. The last time there was a war between Iran and the United States, was in 1988 and I was a child, the United States shot down a plane in the Persian Gulf, ”he said. “My colleagues tried to reassure me, but I was very worried, I thought someone was going to crash a plane tonight.”
Esmaeilion’s family had left on Christmas Day to attend her sister-in-law’s wedding. He was in charge of booking his flights, checking in, printing his boarding passes and making sure they were well equipped for the two-week trip. Two weeks after sending them away, he eagerly awaited their return, while the United States and Iran faced an impasse. On January 8, Esmaeilion was in his dental office and remembers trying to frantically call his wife, but to no avail. He contacted his sister-in-law at the airport, who told him that his wife and daughter were checking in and about to board the flight. He felt safe.
“I stopped checking in thinking that I can talk to her in a few hours, but it never happened. There was a 57-minute delay, and no one knows what was the reason for the delay … and then they were shot, ”said Esmaeilion.
“This was probably the most horrible night I have ever had in my life.”
One year after Flight 752 crashes
365 days, or a year, have passed since the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752) from Tehran to Kiev, killing all 176 passengers on board. The minutes continue to pass, but Esmaeilion admits that he is forever stuck in time, as he feels sadness day after day.
“I’m in a parallel world, that’s not what ordinary people live. I just see people as shadows, I’m just thinking about the past. Everything stopped from January 8, the weather is frozen at that time, it’s like an eternal winter ”, he said.
Esmaeilion was not always like this, he is a talented dentist who owned and ran a dental office with his wife. But above all, he was a family man, someone dedicated to his wife and daughter, the latter who was the apple of his eye.
“A year ago, I was an ordinary person like everyone else. I used to work in three offices, my wife in the same way. We took our daughter to the school bus and picked her up in the afternoon. We watched movies together, cooked together, we were a close-knit unit, ”he said.
But, now during sleepless nights while he is stuck on a Groundhog Day of misery, Esmaeilion knows that he is not the same person, and he does not know if he will ever be the happy and happy person he once was.
“I am not the man who used to take his daughter on the school bus, I am not the man who expected his wife to come home and tell her stories. I am a completely different person, ”he said.
‘It wasn’t an accident, it was a murder ‘
Tensions between Iran and the United States were at peak levels, unseen since 1988, when the United States shot down Iran Air 655, killing 290 passengers. On January 3, just days before Iran brought down the PS752, the United States murdered Major General Qassem Soleimani, arguably Iran’s second most powerful man, and the leader of its military operations. On January 8, Iran responded by launching missile strikes against U.S. military bases in Iraq, before finally taking down the flight bound for Kiev.
The events of January 8 and what happened soon after are easy to remember for Esmaeilion, who had to put his whole life on hold. He started looking and found the next available flight to go to Iran. After 72 hours of terrible air travel, delays and loneliness, he finally arrived at his wife’s family home.
That morning after his arrival, he learned that the IRGC had taken responsibility for taking the plane down – for killing his loved ones and hundreds of his own. At that moment, he knew that he would repatriate the bodies of his daughter and wife, so that he could have his funerals in Canada. At the time, Esmaeilion struggled with a number of different emotions towards the Iranian regime, ranging from disappointment, shock and anger, but now only the latter consumes his feelings towards Iran.
“It is mainly anger. Iran has had enough time to confess. Iran had enough time to give an explanation to the family and then to the world. Iran had enough time to negotiate the publication of the final report, but instead, they just scoffed at all the regulations, ”he said.
“It wasn’t an accident, it was a murder.”
He recalled the two-week process, the rush to get permission to move the bodies back to Canada, Iran’s lack of information and lack of responsibility after that.
“The way they treated the families was with intimidation, harassment and harassment,” said Esmaeilion.
In the midst of dealing with their profound loss, the family members of those left behind led by Esmaeilion helped to create a group called Justice For PS752 so that they could suffer together, while seeking to move forward with the events of 8 January 2020.
“Families come together and there is a campaign going on, but there are many members of the family who are suffering and crying at the same time,” he said.
The death of your loved ones is not normal, and overcoming the early stages of grief such as anger and denial is very difficult when there has been no proper closure.
“Most of the time you have time to say goodbye, but none of the family members had a chance to look at the face of their loved one one last time. The pain still exists, especially when you know that the truth has not been found and justice has not been served, ”said Esmaeilion.
The growing defense and desire to seek justice has led Esmaeilion to reduce the number of jobs he does as a dentist, switching to a part-time role, as he focuses on obtaining justice for his family.
“Now everything is different, I am different. Every morning I get up, I’m just writing letters, e-mails, having meetings with other family members and / or the government or some employees, making videos, giving interviews, ”he said.
According to reports from the Canadian pressCanada’s special adviser on the matter, Ralph Goodale, said the prime minister spoke to relatives recently, and January 8 will remain a national day in memory of victims of air disasters. Goodale also mentioned that there will be a discussion about building a memorial, but he will seek information from the victims’ families before proceeding.