Hamid Nouri, who participated in executions of political prisoners, in the summer of 1988, was tried in Stockholm according to the principle of universal competence.
by
He was a member of the Guardians of the Revolution (the ideological army of Iran) before becoming an employee of the Ministry of Justice. During the wave of performing political prisoners in 1988, Hamid Nouri officiated in Gohardacht prison, in the city of Karadj, close to Tehran. He represented the prosecutor and co -opted with other people involved in killing.
On July 14, in Stockholm, where he has been imprisoned since 2019, Hamid Nouri was sentenced to life imprisonment, the maximum sentence in this country, for “criminal and blatant violations of international laws” – the equivalent of War crimes – and “intentional murders”. This judgment constitutes a historical event, because it is the first time that Iranian official has been judged and sentenced outside Iran. “In addition, this is the first time that a verdict has been pronounced about what has happened in Iranian prisons in the summer of 1988,” said one of the prosecutors, Kristina Lindhoff Carleson, attached by phone.
a verdict rejected in Iran
In Iran, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected this verdict, judging it “fundamentally unacceptable” and held the Swedish government “responsible for damage caused to bilateral relations”. Iranian authorities have continued to demand the release of the accused. Her family living in Iran, who attended the trial, denounces the ill -treatment of which Hamid Nouri was the subject, according to her. His lawyers have already announced their intention to appeal the verdict. A review of the case would last “more than six months”, according to M me Lindhoff Carleson.
If this former assistant prosecutor could be tried in Sweden, it is because his ex-gender and a former Iranian political prisoner, Iraj Mesdaghi, attracted him to this Scandinavian country, by making him shim a luxurious journey through Europe. For years, Mr. Mesdaghi documented the executions that occurred in Iranian prisons in 1988, in a context of confrontation with the opposition movement of the people’s mujahideen. He even revealed the true identity of the accused, known in Karadj under the name of Hamid Abbasi. When Hamid Nouri arrived in Sweden, in November 2019, an investigation into him was already underway. When he got off the plane, he was handcuffed by the police.
Accompanied by two other former political prisoners, m. LEADAGHI was heard at length as a witness. A complaint was instructed against the old jailer under the principle of universal jurisdiction , allowing Sweden to pursue alleged perpetrators of crimes against humanity and war crimes, whatever their nationality, that of the victims and the country where the facts took place. Since 2010, the Swedish courts have dealt with ten cases of this kind, including five linked to the former Yugoslavia, in Rwanda and Syria. M Me Lindhoff Carlson, she was the prosecutor of cases linked to Syria (2017) and Rwanda (2018). In all these files, the accused were sentenced to life imprisonment. Unlike other cases, in the Hamid Nouri trial, which lasted nine months, there had been no judicial precedent. The assassinations of political prisoners committed in Iran in the summer of 1988 had never been the subject of judicial treatment, complicating the task of the magistrates.
You have 35.86% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.