Hamid Noury, 60, served as an assistant to the deputy governor of Gohardasht prison in Karaj, near the Iranian capital of Tehran, where an estimated 5,000 prisoners were killed across the country, following an order from then Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He was given a life sentence for the severe atrocities carried out during his reign after being arrested upon landing in Sweden in November 2019.
“The Court of Appeal proceedings against Iranian citizen Hamid Noury have begun. He is charged with murder and crimes against humanity, acts committed in Iran over 30 years ago,” Swedish state media reported.
In the backdrop of the Iran-Iraq war, on July 26, 1988, thousands of members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian opposition group crossed the border into Iran with the support of Iraqi air force, the last major offensive before a United Nations ceasefire came into effect.
The Iranian government placed the country’s prisons on lockdown and rumors soon emerged that the prisoners had been killed and their bodies had been dumped into mass graves. Those killed had been incarcerated for their opposition to the Iranian regime, including followers of MEK.
The Swedish court wrapped up its proceedings in May. Iran has criticized the trial and has taken action to pressure Sweden.
Noury is being tried under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which Sweden applies, meaning that it reserves the right to prosecute those guilty of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity regardless of where they are committed.
His case also marks the first time that an individual is charged with crimes relating to Iran’s mass executions in 1988.
On Tuesday, Tehran’s revolutionary court sentenced Belgian national Olivier Vandercasteele to 40 years in jail and 74 lashes after being convicted of espionage in a trial behind closed doors. Iran often detains foreign and dual nationals in the country and uses them as bargaining chips to gain concessions from the West. The defendants are also denied due process, according to rights groups.
