An Iranian former official is to testify in the war criminal trial in Sweden
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Stockholm (AFP) – A former Iranian prison official who was accused of passing death sentences during a purge of dissent in 1988 will testify for the first time on Tuesday in a landmark trial in Sweden.
Hamid Noury, 60, has since August been brought before a court in Stockholm District Court for, among other things, murder, crimes against humanity and war crimes. They date from the period between July 30 and August 16, 1988, when he is alleged to have been an assistant to the deputy prosecutor in the Gohardasht prison in Karaj, near Tehran.
Human rights groups say about 5,000 prisoners were killed across Iran, allegedly under the command of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini in retaliation for attacks carried out by the Mujahedin people in Iran (MEK, the exile opposition group) at the end of the Iran-Iraq war. 1980-88.
Although not accused of directly carrying out any of the murders, prosecutors have claimed that Noury’s involvement included sentencing to death, bringing prisoners to the execution chamber and helping prosecutors collect the names of prisoners.
Noury has denied the allegations.
The Swedish trial has already heard testimonies from several witnesses, including members or former members of MEK.
“When I was in the death corridor … I had the chance to see him and I witnessed that when they read the names of some people, he followed them towards the death chamber,” one of the witnesses, Reza Falahi, told AFP.
“After 45 minutes or so, for example, he came back, and over and over again the same story was repeated.”
Falahi was imprisoned from 1981 to 1991 and held in the Gohardasht prison in 1988. Now 61 years old, he lives in the UK.
Sweden’s principle of universal jurisdiction means that its courts can try a person on serious charges such as murder or war crimes, regardless of where the alleged crimes took place.
A legal first
Human rights organizations and legal experts have hailed the trial as historic.
– This is the first time that someone who is accused of having participated in this major international crime has ever been brought before a court, so it is incredibly symbolic, says Maja Aberg at Amnesty Sweden to AFP.
Prosecutor Kristina Lindhoff Carleson has accused Noury of “intentionally taking the lives of a very large number of prisoners who sympathize with or belong to the People’s Mujahedin” as well as others who are considered opponents of the “theocratic Iranian state”.
The case is particularly sensitive in Iran, where activists accuse current government figures of having a role in the deaths, most notably President Ebrahim Raisi.
The former head of Iran’s judiciary was accused by Amnesty International 2018 of being a member of a “death commission” behind the secret executions.
In early May, more than 150 personalities, including Nobel laureates, former heads of state and former UN officials, called for an international inquiry into the executions.
“It is also an important signal to the leaders of Iran and the people who were part of these crimes that they may not be safe, justice may eventually catch up with them,” Aberg said.
Asked in 2018 and 2020, Raisi denied involvement but praised Khomeini’s “order” to carry out the purge.
Khomeini dog 1989.
Attracted by a cruise
Ahmad Ebrahimi, another witness now living in the UK, said testifying in court was “a huge relief”.
“I want the international community to come to the conclusion that there is no way out … They must end the policy of concession with this regime,” he said, demanding “responsibility.”
The court recently moved to Albania to hear testimonies from seven witnesses who live in a MEK camp near Tirana and could not travel to Sweden.
Noury was arrested at an airport in Stockholm in November 2019 after efforts by the justice fighter and former political prisoner Iraj Mesdaghi.
After compiling evidence on “several thousand pages” about Noury, Mesdaghi began to lure him to Sweden – where he has family members – with the promise of a luxury cruise.
Noury was arrested when he stepped on Swedish soil.
© 2021 AFP