Fifty-Third Session of Hamid Nouri Court; Witness: I Cried Every Day in Prison at Age 13

Another extraordinary session of the court hearing for Hamid Nouri, accused of war crimes and participation in the massacre of political prisoners in the summer of 1988, took place on Wednesday, December 15, 2021, with the testimony of Manouchehr Eshaqi in Stockholm, Sweden. Due to the prolonging of Hamid Nouri’s defense proceedings, Manouchehr Eshaqi’s testimony was postponed from November 2 to today’s extraordinary session.

Manouchehr Eshaqi was arrested on July 17, 1981, exactly twenty days before his fourteenth birthday, for supporting the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization, and was tortured immediately upon arrival and transferred to solitary confinement. The witness stated that the conditions there were not comparable to the solitary cell where Hamid Nouri was placed, and “this cell is a five-star hotel compared to those.”

This comparison prompted an objection from the court judge, who asked the witness not to make comparisons.

Manouchehr Eshaqi continued to explain that three days after his arrest, he and eight others were brought before Gilani and Lajevardi, who were the religious judge and prosecutor respectively. Eshaqi witnessed the execution squad and the killing of those eight people and others who were transported by minibus to the back of the 325 barracks.

Manouchehr Eshaqi stated that he was placed in a room where he had previously been tortured on the lower floor. For this reason, Manouchehr Eshaqi was constantly witnessing the voices, cries, tears, and torture of others. Manouchehr Eshaqi was later transferred to a hall where approximately ninety prisoners between thirteen and sixteen years old were held. Thirteen months later, he was given a reduced sentence due to “young age” in a court hearing and received a ten-year prison sentence.

Manouchehr Eshaqi was transferred to Gohardasht Prison in 1986. He stated that he had seen Hamid Abbasi multiple times in Gohardasht and Evin prisons. He added that once, after the executions by Hamid Nouri, he was sent to solitary confinement for more than two months and was repeatedly threatened with execution by guards and Revolutionary Guards. He said: “I was not a hero or anything like that. I was a thirteen-year-old teenager who cried every day.”

The witness confirmed the existence of the death tunnel and gas chamber in the prison and testified that by writing a renunciation letter against the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization and giving a commitment, he survived execution. Manouchehr Eshaqi testified that after the executions, Nasarian, while Hamid Nouri stood beside him, told the prisoners who survived the executions that if it were up to him, he would have executed the rest.

Manouchehr Eshaqi was transferred to Evin Prison in late February or early March after the executions. Eshaqi again wrote a renunciation letter against the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization “for show” and was released, only to be returned to Evin Prison two or three days later. Manouchehr Eshaqi was released from Evin Prison in 1991.

Manouchehr Eshaqi stated that before their release, they were taken to Hamid Nouri’s prosecutor’s office. There, a person who introduced himself as “Zamani” and a Ministry of Intelligence official threatened them, saying that if they maintained contact with “splinter groups” or engaged in political activity, this time their families would not even find their bodies.

Manouchehr Eshaqi suffers from “post-traumatic stress disorder” and was under treatment by the Red Crescent’s torture committee for four years. He also participated in 2009 as a witness in investigations by the Abdolrahman Boroumand Foundation in France.

At the end of today’s session, the judge asked the witness—as with other witnesses—whether he wanted any compensation for his appearance in court or for the damages he suffered. The witness said: “I have no such expectations at all. I had lost my life. I was glad that I could be here and testify.”

It should be noted that the witness’s two brothers—Mohsen and Mehdi—were also imprisoned with him during the 1980s and previously testified as witnesses in the Hamid Nouri trial. The witness’s two uncles were also executed in 1981 and 1988.

The next court session will be held on Thursday, December 16, with the testimony of Mehrzad Dashtbani at the Stockholm court.

Source: Voice of America