Verdict due for ex-Iranian official in Swedish war crimes trial

A Swedish court on Thursday will deliver its verdict in the trial of Hamid Noury, a former Iranian prison officer charged with war crimes during a 1988 purge of dissidents.

The trial marked the first time an Iranian official was tried for the mass executions.

The trial, ongoing since August 2021, has strained relations between Sweden and Iran and raised concerns about reprisals against Western prisoners held by the Islamic regime. Two Swedish-Iranian citizens are on death row.

Noury, 61, has been charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, among others, over his role in the killing of at least 5,000 prisoners across Iran, allegedly ordered by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

The killings were revenge for attacks by the exiled opposition group the People’s Mujahideen of Iran (MEK) at the end of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War.

Prosecutors have asked for a life sentence for the accused, claiming he was then an assistant prosecutor at Gohardasht prison near Tehran.

They say he handed down death sentences, took prisoners to the execution chamber and helped prosecutors collect prisoners’ names.

The court is expected to deliver its verdict at 1:30 p.m. (1130 GMT).

During the nine-month hearings, Noury, often theatrically and smilingly, dismissed testimonies from former detainees.

He has argued that he was on leave during the period in question and said he worked at another prison. Noury ​​denounced the allegations as a plot by the MEK to discredit the Tehran regime.

“I hope these hands are cleared … with the help of God,” Noury ​​said in court on the final day of the hearing on May 4, palms raised to heaven and a Koran in hand.

Among the dozens called to the stand, several witnesses said they recognized him immediately.

“When I was in the death corridor … I had a chance to see him and I witnessed that when they read some people’s names, he followed them towards the death chamber,” one of the plaintiffs, Reza Falahi, told AFP .

“He came back 45 minutes later and the scene repeated several times a day,” he added.

Noury ​​was arrested at a Stockholm airport in November 2019 after police complaints were filed against him by Iranian dissidents in Sweden.

Former Gohardasht prisoner Iraj Mesdaghi said Noury ​​was lured to Sweden, where he has family members, with promises of a luxury cruise, although Noury ​​himself denied that account.

During the trial, which was briefly relocated to Albania in late 2021 to hear some testimonies, MEK supporters protested loudly outside the Stockholm courthouse. Another meeting is planned for Thursday.

Given the delicate nature of the case, Stockholm’s trial has chilled already chilly relations with Tehran.

This is partly because rights activists are accusing senior Iranian officials now in power – including current President Ebrahim Raisi – of having been members of the committees that handed down the death sentences.

The so-called “death committees” are said to have sent at least 5,000 to be executed. The MEK even puts the number at 30,000 victims.

Raisi himself has denied ever having been a member of these committees.

Tehran has repeatedly urged the Swedish government to release Hamid Noury.

Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde reiterated to her Iranian counterpart in early July that there was nothing the government could do because the Nordic country’s courts were “completely independent”.

Concerned about a recent wave of arrests of Europeans in the country “for no apparent reason”, Sweden has been advising its citizens not to travel to Iran since the end of June.

The main concern is the Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali. Was sentenced to death for espionage in Iran in 2017 and is currently awaiting execution.

Amnesty International has accused Iranian authorities of holding him “hostage” to force an exchange with Hamid Noury ​​and a former Iranian diplomat who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Belgium, Assadollah Assadi.

A controversial deal that would allow the exchange of prisoners with Iran is under consideration in Belgium’s parliament.

When asked about the possibility of such an exchange for the Swedish side, the Foreign Ministry declined to comment.