Iranian accused in mass executions goes on trial in Sweden

The trial of Iranian Hamid Noury began in Sweden on Tuesday. The 60-year-old is accused of committing war crimes over his role in the Islamic Republic’s 1988 mass execution of political prisoners at Gohardasht Prison, 20 kilometers west of Tehran.

Prosecutor Kristina Lindhoff Carleson opened the trial in Stockholm by accusing Noury of “intentionally taking the life of a very large number of prisoners sympathetic to, or belonging to, the People’s Mujahedin (MEK)” as well as others considered to be opponents of the “theocratic Iranian state.”

Hamid Noury has denied the allegations and his defense team pledged to refute all charges during the three-day trial. Defense attorneys deny Noury even worked at the prison.

Why is an Iranian on trial in Sweden for crimes he didn’t commit there?

The trial is the first of its kind in Sweden and is taking place due to the country’s principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows its courts to try a person on serious charges such as murder or war crimes, regardless of where the alleged crimes were committed.

Swedish prosecutors originally announced they would open their trial against Noury for “committing grave war crimes and murder in Iran during 1988,” on July 27. A verdict in the three-day trial is expected in April 2022.

Human rights groups estimate that as many as 5,000 prisoners across Iran were killed in retribution for attacks carried out by the MEK at the end of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. The mass executions are thought to have been carried out on orders from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Noury’s participation, as outlined by prosecutors, included the handing down of death sentences, the transfer of prisoners to execution chambers, and assisting prosecutors in the collection and registration of prisoners’ names.

Among those in court Tuesday were lawyers for a group of more than 30 civil complainants — including victims and their families — who helped bring the case.

• An enduring conflict — 40 years since start of Iran-Iraq war

  A territorial dispute

  On September 22, 1980, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein sent troops into neighboring Iran, starting an eight-year-long deadly war that killed thousands of people. The conflict started with a territorial dispute between the two Shiite majority countries.

• An enduring conflict — 40 years since start of Iran-Iraq war

  The Algiers accord

  Five years earlier, in March 1975, Hussein, then Iraq’s vice president, and the Shah of Iran signed a deal in Algiers to settle the border dispute. Baghdad, however, accused Tehran of plotting attacks and called for the evacuation of three strategic islands in the Strait of Hormuz, claimed by both Iran and the UAE.

• An enduring conflict — 40 years since start of Iran-Iraq war

  A key water source

  On September 17, 1980, Baghdad declared the Algiers accord null and void and demanded control of all of the Shatt al-Arab — a 200-kilometer-long (125 mile) river formed by the meeting of the Tigris and the Euphrates, which flows into the Gulf.

• An enduring conflict — 40 years since start of Iran-Iraq war

  Bombing of ports and cities

  Hussein’s forces bombed Iranian airports, including the one in Tehran, as well as military facilities and Iran’s oil refineries. Iraqi forces met little resistance in the first week and seized the towns of Qasr-e Shirin and Mehran, as well as Iran’s southwestern port of Khorramshahr, where the Shatt al-Arab meets the sea.

• An enduring conflict — 40 years since start of Iran-Iraq war

  Common enemy

  Many Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, backed Baghdad in the war against Iran, fearing that the Islamic Revolution spearheaded by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini could influence the Shiite population in the Middle East. Western countries, too, supported Baghdad and sold weapons to Hussein’s regime.

• An enduring conflict — 40 years since start of Iran-Iraq war

  Iran pushes back

  Iran’s counterattack took Iraq by surprise as Tehran managed to take back the control of the Khorramshahr port. Baghdad announced a ceasefire and pulled back troops, but Tehran rejected it and continued to bomb Iraqi cities. From April 1984, the two sides engaged in a “war of the cities,” in which some 30 cities on both sides were battered by missile attacks.

• An enduring conflict — 40 years since start of Iran-Iraq war

  Chemical weapons

  One of the highlights of the Iran-Iraq war was Baghdad’s use of chemical weapons on Iran. Tehran first made the accusation in 1984 — confirmed by the UN — and then again in 1988. In June 1987, Iraqi forces dropped poison gas canisters on the Iranian town of Sardasht. In March 1988, Iran claimed that Baghdad used chemical weapons against Iraqi citizens in the town of Halabja.

• An enduring conflict — 40 years since start of Iran-Iraq war

  Truce

  On July 18, 1988, Khomeini accepted a UN Security Council resolution to end the war. While the exact number of those killed in the war is not known, at least 650,000 people died during the conflict. A ceasefire was declared on August 20, 1988.

• An enduring conflict — 40 years since start of Iran-Iraq war

  A new chapter

  The toppling of Hussein’s regime by the US in 2003 ushered in a new era in the Middle East. Relations between Iraq and Iran have improved since then and the two countries increasingly cooperate economically, culturally and socially.

  Author: Shamil Shams

How did Swedish authorities arrest Noury?

Noury has been in custody in Sweden since his November 2019 arrest at Stockholm airport. His arrest was the direct result of efforts by Iraj Mesdaghi, an Iranian justice campaigner and himself a former political prisoner.

Mesdaghi scrupulously compiled “several thousand pages” of evidence on Noury and ultimately set about luring him to Scandinavia with the promise of a luxury cruise. Noury was arrested as he stepped onto Swedish soil.

“This is the first time that one of the persecutors has been held accountable in another country,” as Mesdaghi told AFP news agency.

But why is this relevant today, over 30 years later?

As the trial opened, MEK supporters were among several hundred protesters who gathered outside the Stockholm courthouse carrying photos of the dead and demanding justice.

Noury’s trial is a particularly sensitive issue in Iran, as human rights campaigners say current government figures played key roles in the executions.

One of those accused of participation is Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s new president. In 2018, the rights group Amnesty International accused Raisi, who was head of Iran’s judiciary in 1988, of being a member of the “death commission” behind the secret executions.

President Raisi has denied any involvement in the crimes. He has, however, praised Khomeini’s “order” to carry out the purge.

js/jsi (AFP, Reuters)

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/iranian-accused-in-mass-executions-goes-on-trial-in-sweden/a-58824007?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf