Extraordinary Court Session for Hamid Nouri Held with Two Witnesses; He Faces Two Charges of War Crime and Premeditated Murder
An extraordinary and unscheduled court session for Hamid Nouri, accused of participating in the summer executions of 1988, was held on Monday, September 29 (September 20) with the presence of two witnesses.
The court began with the continuation of testimony by Nasrollah Merandi, a witness in the tenth court session, and questions posed by Daniel Markus, one of the defense attorneys for the accused, directed at him. The focus of these questions was largely on how and when the witness learned of Hamid Nouri’s arrest and identification of his identity as Hamid Abbasi, as well as the witness and accused’s first encounter in 1987.
Masoud Ashraf Semani was the second witness in this unscheduled court session. The witness stated that at the time of his arrest he was 21 years old and an engineering student, and in a five-minute court proceeding was convicted of supporting the Mujahedin organization without a defense attorney and sentenced to 7 years in prison. Masoud Ashraf Semani testified that he had repeatedly seen Hamid Nouri in Gohardasht Prison and in the death corridor guiding prisoners to executions.
He stated that in early 1988, he saw Mohammad Moghisseh, known as “Nasarian,” and Nouri (Abbasi) come to the ward a few times and threaten the young inmates not to exercise collectively and not to pray in congregation. He heard from the inmates who were taken for punishment that Hamid Nouri punished them. Ashraf Semani testified that Hamid Nouri was present several times during interview and confession-extraction sessions with inmates and he witnessed Nouri mock the prisoners.
Mr. Ashraf Semani stated that he witnessed the torture and beating of a prisoner with the alias “Akbar Gorbachev” by Davoud Lashkari, and also saw a prisoner named Naser Mansouri “throw himself from his cell downward and guards kicked him and … they executed him later.”
Mr. Semani also, referring to the fact that he witnessed guards carrying small bags containing watches, rings, folded papers, and other items, said: “I concluded that these [belonged to those executed.] They took these young men. They were no longer there and we had no news of them and never received any news of them.”
Masoud Ashraf Semani stated that he faced members of the death committee—including Morteza Eshraqi, Hosseinali Niri, and Ismail Shoshtar—twice, and by declaring his disassociation from the Mujahedin and willingness for a video interview, escaped execution. He said that after that he was beaten by Nasarians and spent more than a month in solitary confinement.
Mr. Semani stated that a few months after his release in 1989, he was summoned for an interview and Nasarians handed him to Nouri for the interview. The witness said Hamid Nouri was responsible for conducting a 10-minute video interview with him. After Masoud Ashraf Semani’s migration to Sweden, he assisted Iraj Mesdaghi, an author of prison memoirs, in drawing prison maps. Mesdaghi’s books are among the 65 written documents included in the court’s indictment.
The continuation of Masoud Ashraf Semani’s testimony was postponed to the next court session on Wednesday, September 31 (September 22).
According to the indictment of prosecutor Christina Lindhoff Carlsson, Hamid Nouri was the assistant prosecutor’s deputy at Gohardasht Prison in Karaj during the summer 1988 executions and participated in those executions. Nouri faces two charges of war crime and premeditated murder.
Source: Voice of America
