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Iran announces arrests in downing of Ukrainian jet
by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - Iran announced that it would arrest several individuals involved with the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet last week, after widespread public discontent forced the regime to acknowledge that it had killed the 176 people on board by mistake.
A spokesman for the Iranian judiciary Gholamhussein Esmaili explained that "extensive investigations" had led to the arrests of several people, though the number was unspecified, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani calling Tuesday for a special court to be convened to arbitrate the matter.
"The judiciary should form a special court with a ranking judge and dozens of experts," Rouhani said. “This is not an ordinary case. The entire world will be watching this court.”
Though it is illegal to convert from Islam to Christianity in Iran and the Islamic Republic is the ninth-worst persecutor of Christians in the world according to Open Doors USA, the number of believers there has grown by about 30 times since 1994.