In response to a media report that the Department of Defense is delaying release of its investigation into the US air strike on an elementary school in Minab, Iran that killed over 150 people, most of them children, Amnesty International USA’s National Director for Government Relations, Amanda Klasing, said:
“Further delays are absolutely unacceptable. The Department of Defense must immediately release its full investigation into the air strike on the elementary school in Minab, unclassified and unredacted. The public, especially survivors and victims’ families, have a right to know what happened. Killing over 100 schoolchildren and then trying to evade accountability by playing politics and keeping this investigation under wraps is both unlawful and unconscionable.
“The investigation should have been released as soon as it was completed. Withholding this information for any reason is unconscionable, but it is even more concerning that the Department of Defense may be delaying the release to mitigate adverse political outcomes in the midterm elections. Any congressional oversight into the air strike must also include an investigation into the delays.
“You cannot prevent future harm if it’s all in secret, but public transparency alone is not enough. The investigation itself must be comprehensive. It must consider the military’s intelligence gathering and assessments, targeting decisions, , and use of artificial intelligence. Where sufficient evidence exists, competent authorities must prosecute any person suspected of criminal responsibility. Further, survivors and victims’ families have a right to truth, justice, and reparations. Anything less would be a whitewash of one of the most egregious incidents of civilian harm committed by the US military in recent memory.”
Contact: [email protected]