2 yıl önce

Swedish court hands life term to ex-Iran official over 1988 purge

Former Iranian official Hamid Noury has been convicted of a "serious crime against international law" and "murder", the Stockholm district court says.

AFP

Tehran has dismissed as "political" the sentencing of the former prison official.

A Swedish court has handed a life sentence to former Iranian prison official Hamid Noury for crimes committed during a 1988 purge of dissidents, in the first trial related to the mass executions.

Noury, 61, was convicted on Thursday of a "serious crime against international law" and "murder", the Stockholm district court said in a statement. "The sentence is life imprisonment."

According to the court, Noury was an assistant prosecutor in a prison near Tehran at the time of the events.

"The investigation has shown that the accused, jointly and in collusion with others, participated in the commission of the criminal acts," the court said.

"He has, under an alias and in the role of assistant to the deputy prosecutor, retrieved prisoners, brought them to the committee and escorted them to the execution site."

Iran dismissed the court verdict as "political".

Tehran "strongly condemns this political statement, which consists of making unfounded and fabricated accusations against Iran and its judicial system, along with the life sentence against Hamid Noury", Iran's foreign ministry said in a statement.

'A serious crime'

The case is related to the killing of at least 5,000 prisoners across Iran. The killings were to avenge attacks carried out by exiled opposition group the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) at the end of the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88.

Noury was sentenced both for his role in the killings targeting the MEK and for participating in a second wave directed at "left-wing sympathisers" deemed to have renounced their faith, the court said.

The charge of "a serious crime against international law" related to the first wave and the "murder" charge related to the second.

Throughout the nine months of hearings, Noury, often theatrical and smiling, rejected the testimony of former detainees.

He argued that he was on leave during the period in question, and said he worked in another prison. Noury denounced the accusations as a plot by the MEK to discredit Iran.

Noury's lawyer Thomas Soderqvist told AFP news agency they were "disappointed", and that they would now review the verdict. "The sentence will be appealed," Soderqvist added.

The proceedings, which have been running since August 2021, have strained relations between Sweden and Iran.

Concerns have been raised about reprisals against Western prisoners held by Tehran, as two Swedish-Iranian citizens are on death row, with the main concern being Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali.

SOURCE: AFP