76th Session of Hamid Nouri's Trial; Witness: Bodies of Executed Persons Were Sprayed in the Prison Yard

The 76th trial session of Hamid Nouri, accused of participating in the summer executions in Gohardasht Prison in 1988, was held on Tuesday, April 2, 1402, with the testimony of Manouchehr Peyvan in Stockholm, Sweden.

Manouchehr Peyvan was arrested in 1988 and sentenced to ten years in prison in Evin Prison on charges of supporting the People's Volunteer Guerrilla Organization (Fedai Khalq - Minority) and later transferred to Qezl-Hesar Prison. He served his sentence in Ward 7 of Gohardasht Prison before and after the 1988 executions - from the fall of 1986 to March 1988.

Shahed’s written sentence of ten years in prison was displayed as written evidence in today’s court session. The sentence was issued in the name of “Manouchehr Babak,” which was the name of Shahed’s organization at the time. Shahed later changed his name to “Manouchehr Safarali” in Denmark. Explaining this, he said that his original family name was “Safargholi,” which was changed in writing and registration. He said that the documents for it are fully available in Shadshahr.

Manouchehr Peyvan had initially objected to the quality of the translation of his interrogations with the Swedish police. The request from Hamid Nouri's defense lawyers to retranslate his interrogation was also accepted by the court and is being processed.

Manouchehr Peyvan testified in today's court session that televisions were removed from the prison on August 28-29, 1988. Radio broadcasts, use of the canteen, and visits were stopped. Prisoners were not taken to the infirmary. The Mojahedin prisoners also broadcast news of the execution of 200 prisoners who were members or supporters of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization in prison. He said that it was hard to believe at first because they had been sentenced and had been in prison for years.

Manouchehr Peyvan said that “seeing a mountain of slippers” in the courtyard of Gohardasht prison was the first shock for him and his fellow inmates. The witness said he saw a trailer and bodies with something thrown on them. He pointed to trucks loaded with the bodies of “the massacred.”

Manouchehr Peywand answered the judge's supplementary questions elsewhere. He said that in mid-August, from Ward 7 on the third floor, he witnessed bodies lying on the ground in the prison yard for two days before they were sprayed. He also witnessed the spraying of the prison grounds after the bodies were transferred.

On September 28, 1988, Manouchehr Peyvand first encountered “Brother Abbasi” in Ward 7 of Gohardasht Prison without a blindfold. “Brother Abbasi” and several other guards read out the names of twenty people; people such as Reza Zhirakzadeh, Bijan Bazargan, Majid Vali, Amirhoshang Safaian, Mahmoud Ghazi, Javad Najafi, Bahman Ronaghi, and Nakhoda Hakimi. Hamid Nouri asked him there if he prayed or not. The witness answered in the negative. In response, Nouri said, “Now it will be clear whether you pray or not.”

Manouchehr Peyvan was taken to the death squad room by Naserian and stood blindfolded in front of 15-16 people, including Nayri and Ishraqi. He also mentioned a person named “Zamanian,” who was probably the representative of the Ministry of Intelligence and the Security Organization in the prosecutor’s office. The witness said that Zamanian would come into the cells and say, “You will not be released until we kill you.”

Manouchehr Peyvandi explained that in response to questions from Nayeri and Ishraqi, he said that he was not a Muslim and did not pray. He said that because he was spared execution, his beliefs were now closer to those of his family, who are Dervishes. The witness said that later he was ridiculed many times by the defendant in court for this statement.

Manouchehr Peyvandi testified that he heard a prison guard on death row shouting, “What a disgrace you have done. Thirty innocent people were executed.” The witness said that now that I recall, I think that prison guard was “Brother Abbasi.” He said that Hamid Nouri was Naserian’s deputy, the chief prosecutor of Gohardasht Prison.

Manouchehr Peyvand was whipped fifteen days after his release from execution with a group of prisoners who had escaped execution for agreeing to pray and be interviewed by Hamid Nouri and a number of others. He testified that Jalil Shahbazi, one of his fellow inmates, was whipped so hard that he eventually slit his stomach with a jam jar in the toilet and committed suicide. Prison authorities refused to send Shahbazi to a health center or hospital, and Shahbazi died there.

Manouchehr Peywand testified that after the executions, about two hundred people remained, with one toilet and bathroom. It was there that Naserian himself announced that the remaining prisoners had been executed.

Manouchehr Peyvandi said that before the executions, he had been interrogated and asked to be interviewed in 1987. Manouchehr Peyvandi was released from Evin Prison in 1989.

The next court session will be held on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, with the testimony of Toron Lindholm, professor of social psychology and deputy head of the Department of Psychology at Stockholm University, Sweden, and Shadi Sadr, lawyer and director of the Organization for Justice in Iran.

Source: Voice of America