15 August 2021
A victory for Justice
The trial of Hamid Nouri in Sweden over the mass execution and torture of political prisoners in Iran in1988s is a victory for all political prisoners, their families in Iran and also a victory for justice
Hamid Nouri, a former Islamic regime’s prosecutor in Iran, who was directly involved in the 1988 execution of thousands of political prisoners in Iran, went on trial in Sweden on August 10th, 2021.
On August 10, Hamid Nouri, 60, who was arrested in 2019, appeared in Stockholm District Court and was charged with “intentionally taking the life of a very large number of prisoners” in Iran in the summer of 1988. This is when more than 5,000 political prisoners were executed and buried in mass graves in Iran. Nouri was assistant to the deputy prosecutor of Gohardasht prison in the city of Karaj, near Tehran. After 33 years, many families still do not know where their loved ones are buried and where they were executed. Some families have been arrested and tortured only because they are demanding to know the truth about why their loved ones were executed in 1988.
Until now, no one within the Islamic regime has been charged for the massacre of 1988. This is why the trial of Hamid Nouri is significantly important and a historic event. The families of those who were executed, former political prisoners and survivors of the massacre of 1988 have waited for 33 years to present their cases in a court of law. It is a sad moment for these families but at the same time, it is a triumph as they are finally getting some form of justice.
As a former political prisoner, who was jailed in the 80s for my political activities, in Iran and a campaigner, I am delighted that I am able, in my lifetime, to witness the trial of one of the Islamic regime’s mass murderers and torturers. I am thrilled that finally families of those political prisoners, who were executed, and also the former political prisoners, who escaped execution, and those who are still in jail, can see one of their torturers being arrested and put on trial. Their battle for justice finally paid off, at least one of the Islamic Regime’s murderers is on trial, and there are many more who are still in power such the president Ebrahim Raisi, who became president in a recent shambolic election in Iran.
The case of Hamid Nuri is not just about the prosecution of a mass murderer within the Islamic regime in Iran, it is about opening the door to further investigation. Hopefully, the trial of Hamid Nouri will eventually lead to the prosecution of the rest of those mass murderers in the Islamic regime, including the current president of the regime Ebrahim Raisi, who committed a crime against humanity.
Hamid Nuri was the assistant to the deputy prosecutor and is on trial in Sweden now. However, Ebrahim Raisi was one of the main members of the “Death Committee” who directly ordered the massacre of the political prisoners in 1988. Raisi has even openly praised himself for killing thousands of political prisoners in one of his recent interviews at a news conference in Tehran at the end of June 2021. He publicly defended the massacre of thousands of political prisoners and claimed that it was “one of the proudest achievements of the system” and that he was “defending the human rights.”
Amnesty International, in a statement in June 2021, stated, “We continue to call for Ebrahim Raisi to be investigated for his involvement in past and ongoing crimes under international law, including by states that exercise universal jurisdiction.”
If Hamid Nouri is on trial for “intentionally taking the life of a very large number of prisoners”, then how is it possible that the governments around the world, including the EU and UK, are shaking hands with Ebrahim Raisi who personally ordered the massacre in 1988? Why have the international community, and specifically the UN Human Rights Council, has not taken any actions to investigate the crime committed by Ebrahim Raisi?
Shiva Mahbobi
Spokeswoman, Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)
www.cfppi.org , shiva.mahbobi@gmail.com +447572356661
