76th Session of Hamid Noori’s Court: Witness Testifies Bodies of Executed Prisoners Were Sprayed in Prison Yard

The 76th session of Hamid Noori’s court, who is accused of participating in the executions of summer 1988 at Gohardasht Prison, was held on Tuesday, the 2nd of Farvardin 1401 (March 22, 2022) with the testimony of Manoucher Pivoand in Stockholm, Sweden.

Manoucher Pivoand was arrested in 1981 and sentenced to ten years in prison at Evin Prison on charges of supporting the Organization of Fedayi of the Iranian People – Minority faction. He was later transferred to Qazalhesar Prison. He spent his imprisonment period before and after the 1988 executions – from autumn of 1985 to March 1988 – in Ward Seven of Gohardasht Prison.

A written judgment of ten years imprisonment for the witness was presented as a written document during today’s court session. The judgment was issued under the name “Manoucher Babak,” which was the witness’s organizational name at that time. The witness later changed his name to “Manoucher Safar-Ali” in Denmark. In explaining this matter, he stated that his original family name was “Safar-Qoli,” which was changed in writing and registration. He said the documents are completely available in Shahrshahr.

Manoucher Pivoand had objected from the beginning about the quality of the translation of his interrogations with Swedish police. The request of Hamid Noori’s defense attorneys for a retranslation of his interrogation was accepted by the court and is currently underway.

Manoucher Pivoand testified in today’s court session that on the 5th-6th of Mordad 1388 (July 26-27, 2009), televisions were removed from the ward. Radio broadcasts, use of air conditioning and visits were cut off. Prisoners were not taken to hygiene facilities. Mujahedin prisoners also broadcast news in the prison that 200 prisoners who were members or supporters of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization had been executed. He said his initial belief was difficult because they had sentences and had been in prison for years.

Manoucher Pivoand said “seeing a mountain of feet” in the yard of Gohardasht Prison was his and his cellmates’ first shock. The witness said he saw a trailer and bodies that had something thrown over them. He pointed to trucks whose cargo was the bodies of “those massacred.”

Manoucher Pivoand answered supplementary questions from the court judge elsewhere. He said in mid-Mordad, from Ward Seven on the third floor, he witnessed bodies lying on the ground in the prison yard for two days that were then sprayed. He also witnessed the spraying of the prison compound after the bodies were removed.

On the 5th or 6th of Shahrivar 1388 (August 26-27, 2009), Manoucher Pivoand was first confronted without a blindfold with “Brother Abbasi” in Ward Seven of Gohardasht Prison. “Brother Abbasi” along with several other guards read out the names of twenty people, individuals such as Reza Zhirakzadeh, Bijan Bazargan, Majid Vali, Amirhoshang Safaiyan, Mahmoud Ghazi, Javad Najafi, Bahman Ronaghi and Nakhoda Hakimi. Hamid Noori asked him there whether he prayed or not. The witness answered in the negative. Noori replied that now it would be determined whether you pray or not.

Manoucher Pivoand was taken by Nasserian to the death committee room and stood without a blindfold before 15-16 people including Niri and Eshragh. He also pointed to a person named “Zamanian” who was probably a representative of the Ministry of Intelligence and the security organization in the prosecutor’s office. The witness said Zamanian came into the wards and said we won’t release you unless we kill you.

Manoucher Pivoand explained that in response to questions from Niri and Eshragh, he said he is not a Muslim and does not pray. He said in order to escape execution, he said his beliefs are now closer to his family’s ideology, who are Dervishes. The witness said later because of this statement, I was repeatedly ridiculed by the defendant in court.

Manoucher Pivoand testified that in the corridor of death he heard a guard shouting “What terrible thing have you done? Thirty innocent people have been executed.” The witness said now that I recall my memory, I believe that “Brother Abbasi” was that guard. He said Hamid Noori was the deputy of Nasserian, the chief prosecutor of Gohardasht Prison.

Fifteen days after his release from execution, Manoucher Pivoand was whipped along with a group of prisoners saved from execution for accepting to pray and in interviews by Hamid Noori and several others. He testified that Jalil Shahbazi, one of his cellmates, was whipped so much that eventually his stomach was torn by a jam glass in the toilet and he committed suicide. Prison authorities refrained from sending Shahbazi to hygiene or hospital facilities, and Shahbazi died there.

Manoucher Pivoand testified that after the executions, approximately two hundred people remained with one toilet and bathroom. It was there that Nasserian himself announced that the remaining prisoners had been executed.

Manoucher Pivoand said that before the executions, in 1987 (1366 in the Persian calendar), he was also interrogated and asked to give an interview. Manoucher Pivoand was released from Evin Prison in 1989 (1368 in the Persian calendar).

The next court session will be held on Wednesday, the 3rd of Farvardin 1401 (March 23, 2022) with testimony from Thoron Lindholm, professor of social psychology and deputy director of the psychology department at Stockholm University Sweden, and Shadi Sadr, a lawyer and one of the managers of the Organization for Justice in Iran.

Source: Voice of America