Swedish Prosecutor Issues Indictment Against Hamid Noori, Accused of 1988 Massacre

After 20 months of detention, the Swedish prosecutor has issued an indictment against Hamid Noori, accused of involvement in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran. According to the indictment, Mr. Noori is charged with the killing of political prisoners who were members of leftist groups and the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization.

The massacre of political prisoners in 1988 has been mentioned in human rights organizations’ reports for years, but no suspect has been tried in a European court in connection with it until now.

Hamid Noori was arrested in November 2019 upon entering Sweden. The Swedish court has repeatedly extended his detention period due to substantial evidence supporting strong suspicion of his guilt. In December 2020, the Swedish government approved the establishment of a court for this individual accused of involvement in the 1988 massacre.

Hamid Noori has been identified by case witnesses as a deputy at Gohardasht Prison in Karaj and as one of eight members of the “execution committee” at the prison during the mass executions of political prisoners in summer 1988. Ibrahim Raisi, Iran’s new president, was also a member of this committee.

Reasons for the Prosecutor’s Indictment

The Swedish prosecutor’s indictment provides no explanation about how many witnesses were questioned or which countries these witnesses came from.

Iraj Mesdaghi, a former political prisoner and witness in the case, told Deutsche Welle about the reasoning and evidence the Swedish court used to accept the indictment: “In my memoir, which was published about two decades ago, I detailed Hamid Noori’s role in the 1988 massacre and emphasized in my book that his real name is Hamid Noori and he was known as Hamid Abbasi in prison. Since this book had been published earlier, it served as solid evidence for the Swedish judicial system.”

Mesdaghi continued: “On the other hand, we had introduced witnesses who were involved in the case before Hamid Noori came to Sweden, and for that reason it was documented for them that the person coming to Sweden was Hamid Noori and that he was accused of participation in the 1988 massacre, and all of this was sufficient for the Swedish prosecutor to arrest him.”

According to Mesdaghi, testimony from nearly 100 witnesses, complainants, and experts in the case has been heard, and the issue of the 1988 massacre has been raised for years in international reports by human rights organizations, including in the “Iran Tribunal” and in a report prepared at the request of the “Boroumand Foundation.”

Mesdaghi told Deutsche Welle: “This collection of documents and evidence was sufficient to arrest Hamid Noori. Today the prosecutor has accepted our claims, and as a result, Hamid Noori’s indictment has been presented to the court.”

When asked why the proceeding in Hamid Noori’s case took so long, Mesdaghi responded: “The Swedish judicial system had to speak with all witnesses and complainants. Witnesses and complainants were summoned to Sweden and were questioned here, and also due to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, some were unable to come, and with coordination with the judicial systems and police of other countries, they were also interrogated. This is a very sensitive case, and the Swedish judicial system had to conduct thorough investigations so that the case would be well-documented and no one’s rights would be violated.”

According to Mr. Mesdaghi, as predicted, the court will hold 90 sessions and will last at least until April 2022, approximately 9 more months. He emphasized that the Hamid Noori case, from the perspective of “crimes against humanity” and “violations of international law,” is one of the most significant cases.

Response from the Islamic Republic of Iran

Mesdaghi further noted that the Hamid Noori case is also very important for the Iranian government, and for this reason it has shown no reaction so far and has tried to deal with the case through silence.

Mesdaghi added: “It should be noted that Mr. Hamid Noori was arrested based on the principle of universal jurisdiction, and he was directly involved in the 1988 massacre and is considered one of the main members of the 1988 massacre committee alongside Mr. Ibrahim Raisi.”

Mesdaghi also pointed out that if Hamid Noori is convicted in the Swedish court, it will have serious consequences for Ibrahim Raisi, Iran’s future president.

Iraj Mesdaghi concluded by saying that from a legal perspective, the question arises: How can Ibrahim Raisi, as president, enjoy legal immunity and be able to travel to Europe, America, or international forums? This issue could become a problem for international law, and at that point this matter would need to be pursued in a different dimension.

Source: DW