Court of Appeal uphold the verdict against Hamid Nouri after the mass execution in Iran.

New verdict against Iranian Hamid Noury today

UPDATED TODAY AT 3:28 P.M. PUBLISHED TODAY 13:57

Today, the Svea Court of Appeal upheld the verdict against Hamid Noury, who last year was convicted of gross crimes against international law following the mass executions of political prisoners in Iran.

“This is completely unique,” said Maja Åberg at Amnesty International.

In the summer of 1988, thousands of political prisoners were executed in Iran on the orders of the then religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

The first ever to face is Hamid Noury, who was arrested in Sweden in 2019. Several former prisoners have pointed to him as being involved in the executions.

Hamid Noury’s conviction is upheld.

Last summer, Hamid Noury was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and crimes against international law. Today, the Svea Court of Appeal upheld the verdict.

“We have made the assessment that the prosecutor’s evidence is robust and convincing in crucial parts and that the district court has essentially made a correct assessment when they found the prosecution proven,” says Robert Green, Judge of Appeal in the case, in a press release from the Svea Court of Appeal.

“This is historic”

Maja Åberg, expert at Amnesty International, comments on the verdict as follows:

“This means a lot to the families of people who were killed during this prison massacre. This is historic.

She continues:

“This is completely unique because this is the only person who has been held responsible for thousands of people who were subjected to enforced disappearances and who were executed extrajudicially.

Had not been convicted in Iran..

Had Hamid Noury not been arrested in Sweden, he would probably not have been convicted, according to Maja Åberg.

“A major problem with Iran is that no one is held accountable for this type of human rights violation. The only way to do that is for it to be done internationally using universal jurisdiction.

SVT has reached out to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Minister Tobias Billström for comment. Tobias Billström declined to comment, but the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will get back to you.

THE MASS EXECUTIONS IN IRAN AND SWEDEN’S JUDICIAL ROLE

The armed conflict between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s was coming to an end when Iran’s former supreme leader and founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa calling for the execution of politically opposition prisoners in Iranian prisons.

During the summer of 1988, thousands of people were killed in several prisons around the country. According to human rights organisations, they were brought before quasi-judicial committees where their fate was decided in a matter of minutes.

Years passed and no one was brought to justice for the mass executions.

Over 30 years later – in November 2019 – an Iranian man arrived at Arlanda Airport in Sweden where he was later arrested. The man is suspected of having played a central role in the executions in a prison in Karaj, Iran.

In July 2021, the now 61-year-old man was charged with gross crimes against international law and murder. However, the man denies all crimes.

Sweden is the first country to try the crimes of international law committed in Iran in 1988 legally.

“Crimes against international law have been deemed to be so serious that no matter where they are committed or by whom, national courts should be able to examine such suspicions. Due to the fact that Sweden has universal jurisdiction for crimes against international law, we have both an opportunity but also a certain obligation, to prosecute these crimes,” prosecutor Kristina Lindhoff Carleson has previously said, according to a press release.

On Thursday, July 14, 2022, the verdict against the 61-year-old will be announced. He is sentenced by the district court to life imprisonment for crimes against international law and murder.

Source: Swedish Prosecution Authority, Swedish Police, Amnesty International.