By Simon Johnson and Johan Ahlander
STOCKHOLM -A Swedish courtroom on Thursday sentenced a former Iranian official to life in jail for his half within the mass execution and torture of political prisoners within the Nineteen Eighties.
Hamid Noury, 61, who was arrested at a Stockholm airport in 2019, was charged with warfare crimes for the mass execution and torture of political prisoners on the Gohardasht jail in Karaj, Iran, in 1988.
Handing down its conviction and sentence, the Stockholm District Courtroom mentioned Noury, who it mentioned was an assistant to the deputy prosecutor on the jail, had been “collectively and in collusion with others been concerned within the executions”, which it described as a “critical crime towards worldwide regulation”.
Iran condemned the decision. “Iran is completely sure that Noury’s sentence was politically motivated and it has no authorized validity,” Iran’s International Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani mentioned in a press release.
Amnesty Worldwide has put the quantity executed on authorities orders at round 5,000, saying in a 2018 report that “the actual quantity may very well be increased”. Iran has by no means acknowledged the killings.
Noury, who denied the fees, is the one particular person up to now to face trial over the purge that focused members of the Iranian Individuals’s Mujahideen, which was preventing in elements of Iran, in addition to different political dissidents.
His lawyer was not instantly obtainable for a remark. Noury can enchantment.
The decision was met by jubilant cheers from a whole bunch of exiled Iranians who had gathered on the courtroom.
Reza Fallahi, 65, one of many plaintiffs within the case, mentioned he hoped that whereas in jail, Noury would offer details about the killings.
“We're wanting only for fact and for justice,” Fallahi, who spent 10 years in jail in Iran for supporting the opposition, mentioned.
The Nationwide Council of Resistance of Iran, an opposition umbrella group, mentioned in a press release “justice might be served” when the very best officers had been introduced earlier than the courts.
Rights teams say hardline President Ebrahim Raisi was one in all 4 judges who oversaw the executions.
When requested about allegations, Raisi instructed reporters in 2021 that “if a choose, a prosecutor has defended the safety of the folks, he ought to be praised”.
Some Iranian clerics have mentioned the trials of the prisoners had been truthful.
The case has soured relations between the 2 international locations, with Iran calling the trial unlawful.
Below Swedish regulation, courts can strive Swedish residents and different nationals for crimes towards worldwide regulation dedicated overseas.
Shortly earlier than the trial resulted in Might, Iranian media reported Swedish-Iranian researcher Ahmadreza Djalali, sentenced to demise on expenses of spying for Israel, can be executed. Sweden additionally mentioned on Might 6 that a Swedish vacationer additionally had been detained in Iran.
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