Third Day of Trial for Defendant Accused of Participation in 1988 Summer Executions; Hamid Nouri Had Told Prisoners ‘We Will Repeat Ashura for You’

Hamideh Armideh, a Voice of America correspondent who traveled to Stockholm to cover the trial of Hamid Nouri, reports that unlike the previous two days, the third day of the trial saw no large gatherings or slogans from protesters outside the courthouse where Hamid Nouri, accused of participation in the summer 1988 executions, was being tried. The atmosphere had descended into heavy silence.

According to the report, the third session of the trial began with the presentation of various maps of Gohardasht Prison to clarify for the court the conditions of the prison wards, the route of prisoner transport and guidance, and the names of those prisoners who were being directed to the death committee.

Based on this report, Christina Lindholm Carlsson, the prosecutor of the case, announced that all witnesses in the case have confirmed that Nasserian, Lashgarian, and Hamid Nouri were the three individuals responsible for announcing names and directing them to the death committee.

According to the prosecutor’s statements, prisoners were only separated from life and death by their answers to a few brief questions posed by the death committee. Questions such as “Will the prisoner condemn the Mujahedin organization and its leadership?” “Is the prisoner still loyal to the ideals of the Mujahedin organization?” and “Is the prisoner willing to cooperate with the Islamic Republic?” Those who did not give correct answers to these questions faced execution orders. Prisoners who survived execution had to sign pledges while renouncing the Mujahedin organization.

Continuing with the report, the prosecutor emphasized that many witnesses in Hamid Nouri’s case remember the exact date of their appearance before the death committee. The prosecutor provided detailed explanations in court regarding how the executions began and were carried out over the first two days, based on the book of Iraj Mesdaghi, one of the witnesses and complainants in the case and a key figure in Hamid Nouri’s arrest and detention.

Based on documents in the case file, the executions of the first two days were carried out outside the central prison building and in a separate location. The prosecutor also cited information from two books by Mahmoud Royaei, one of the witnesses and complainants in the case and a member of the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran, regarding the announcement of the names of those executed and the manner of executions.

A large portion of the first hour of the court session was devoted to announcing the names of those executed in the early days, how they were directed to execution, and the behaviors and treatment of Hamid Nouri toward the prisoners. According to the testimony contained in the indictment, Hamid Nouri spoke to prisoners with ridicule and mockery, and repeatedly announced joyfully after executing a group of prisoners, holding a box of chocolates in his hand, that today was the Ashura of the Mujahedin.

The prosecutor read a section of Iraj Mesdaghi’s book to those present, in which it was written: “After each group execution ended, Hamid Nouri joyfully offered bread, cream pastries and sweets to his colleagues and waiting prisoners in the corridor of death, repeatedly saying that the Ashura of the Mujahedin continues.” The prosecutor explained that according to the testimony of witnesses in the case, while sliding his pen over the heating radiator in the hall, Hamid Nouri mockingly addressed the prisoners saying, “We will repeat Ashura for you.”

In the third day session, the book of Hossein Farsi, one of the witnesses in the case and a member of the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran, was also read in court by the prosecutor as one of the written documents. In a section of this book that the prosecutor read, Hossein Farsi wrote that on Friday afternoon, Mordad 21, 1367 (August 12, 1988), Hamid Abbasi (Nouri) came and called out the names of 20 people, pointing to two of his colleagues to take these individuals with them. Hamid Abbasi (Nouri) repeatedly said with a disgusting laugh that this was now the Ashura of the Mujahedin. In his book, Hossein Farsi wrote that he was surprised that Abbasi (Nouri) used the word Mujahedin instead of hypocrites, and he thought to himself that this group of prisoners would never return to their cells.

In the prosecutor’s indictment, it states that survivors testified that the bodies of those executed were transported in refrigerated trucks. Many witnesses in the case have mentioned the smell of bodies, which was distressing to prisoners.

The trial of Hamid Nouri began on the morning of Tuesday, Mordad 19 (August 10) in Stockholm, Sweden and was held for three days. Hamid Nouri is accused of participating in war crimes and premeditated murder. In this case, four lawyers separately represent four groups of witnesses and complainants.

It is said that Daniel Markus and Thomas Soderkvist, two defense lawyers in this case, were appointed by the Embassy of the Islamic Republic to defend Hamid Nouri. The Embassy of the Islamic Republic has not yet responded to media requests for comment and reaction to this case. The next session of this court will begin on Tuesday of next week, Mordad 26 (August 17).

Source: Voice of America