Iranian Official Sentenced to Life Imprisonment: War Crime Trial of Hamid Nouri in Sweden
by Zamaneh Media — 14July 2022
The Stockholm District Court in Sweden has issued the verdict in the trial of a former Iranian Judiciary official, Hamid Nouri, 61, who was involved in the mass execution of political prisoners in Iran in 1988: Nouri is sentenced to life imprisonment.
On Thursday, July 14th, the trial in Stockholm of Hamid Nouri (also spelled Noury), charged with two charges of “war crime — on an international level” and “deliberate murder,” came to an end with a guilty verdict. The Swedish prosecutors had requested the maximum penalty of life imprisonment for Nouri and the court agreed, sentencing him to 25 years in prison. Nouri is eligible for requesting parole after serving two third of this sentence.
It is the first time an Islamic Republic of Iran official involved in the mass killing of more than 5,000 political prisoners in 1988 has been charged with a crime. This is a landmark case for families of the victims who have been seeking justice for years.
Survivors of the mass executions and the families of those killed in Iranian prisons have long awaited justice and an end to the impunity of Iranian officials involved in the mass killing of political prisoners in the late1980s in Iran. One of those officials in Iran’s current president Ebrahim Raisi who was one of the four judges that were a member of what has come to be known as the “Death Commission” that ordered the mass execution of political prisoners in Iran.
Who is Hamid Nouri?
The case in Sweden against Nouri is related to his involvement in the execution of more than 100 political prisoners. According to former political prisoners who were in Gohardasht prison in the late 1980s, Nouri reportedly took part in the mistreatment, lashing, and torture of prisoners as well. The Islamic Republic of Iran has denied the mass killing of political prisoners and Nouri’s involvement in the massacre.
Nouri was a deputy to the assistant prosecutor and involved with the day-to-day dealing with political prisoners in a prison called Gohardasht (currently called Rajai Shahr), in the city of Karaj near Tehran, the capital city. In 1988, when Nouri was a Judiciary and prison official, 5000 political prisoners were sentenced to death in Iranian prisons — many of whom were already serving prison sentences for political activism or for being members of political groups.
