{"id":250792,"date":"2021-11-15T09:52:59","date_gmt":"2021-11-15T14:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=250792"},"modified":"2023-02-01T04:38:52","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T03:38:52","slug":"iran-1988-massacre-akbar-samadis-testimony-at-hamid-nourys-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/iran-1988-massacre-of-political-prisoners\/iran-1988-massacre-akbar-samadis-testimony-at-hamid-nourys-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran 1988 Massacre: Akbar\u00a0Samadi\u2019s\u00a0Testimony at Hamid\u00a0Noury\u2019s\u00a0Trial\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"akbar<\/p>\n

Monday marked the thirty-eighth session of Hamid\u00a0Noury\u2019s\u00a0trial<\/a>, and an Iranian prison official was charged with participation in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners. Noury was in\u00a0Gohardasht\u00a0prison at the time of the massacre. Almost thirty years later, he was arrested in Sweden.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The last four sessions have been held in Albania. The location of the trial was transferred after 34 sessions in Sweden to Albania per prosecutors\u2019\u00a0requests,\u00a0 as\u00a0there are thousands of members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq<\/a> (MEK). The MEK members were the primary target of the 1988 massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners across Iran.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Monday\u2019s session at the District Court of Durres, Akbar Samadi<\/a>, a former political prisoner, and a MEK member testified. Samadi was arrested in 1981, while he was only 14 years old. He spent ten years in prison. In April 1986, Samadi was transferred to\u00a0Gohardashat\u00a0prison.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOn July 30, 1988, I was in the upper floor of\u00a0Gohardasht\u2019s\u00a0Ward 2. They transferred me and several others to a corridor,\u201d Samadi said, referring to what was later known as the \u201cDeath Corridor.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Prisoners were kept in the \u201cDeath Corridor\u201d until they were summoned by the \u201cDeath Commissions.\u201d The \u201cDeath Commissions\u201d were tasked with identifying prisoners who refused to disavow their support for the MEK. These prisoners were rapidly sent for execution.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cDeath Commissions\u201d across Iran implemented a fatwa by the regime\u2019s then-Supreme Leader, Ruhollah Khomeini. Based on this fatwa<\/a>, whoever supported the MEK was considered an enemy\u00a0of God\u00a0and should be immediately executed.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cAs we were being transferred,\u00a0Davoud\u00a0Lashgari\u00a0[one of the senior authorities of\u00a0Gohardasht] saw us and yelled at the prison guards, \u2018Why have you brought this group? Don\u2019t bring them until I\u2019ve called them by name,\u2019\u201d Samadi said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were taken to solitary confinement. A few hours later,\u00a0Lashgari\u00a0came and read our names and transferred us to our previous ward, the Ward 3,\u201d\u00a0Samdi\u00a0said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey had emptied a building in preparation for the massacre,\u201d Samadi said, and added, \u201cDue to the fact that this section had no connection to the other sections, and the administrative building prevented this ward from being connected to other wards, it was located far from the other wards. That is why they had chosen it as the site to carry out the executions.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll that we heard indicated changes and certain developments in the making.\u00a0A number of\u00a0the prisoners had seen\u00a0Davoud\u00a0Lashgari<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0a number of\u00a0prison guards in the ward\u2019s TV room. They had a wheelbarrow with ropes (nooses),\u201d Samadi added.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Samadi, some prisoners were taken out of their cells on July 30 and July 31. \u201cOn July 30, Gholam Hossein\u00a0Eskandari, Hossein\u00a0Sobhani, Mansour\u00a0Ghahremani, Reza\u00a0Zand, Mansour\u00a0Kabari, and several others were taken out.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOn August 1, while we were talking about what was happening,\u00a0Lasghari\u00a0suddenly entered the ward and said: \u2018Prisoners who have a sentence of 10 years and more, come out,\u2019\u201d Samadi said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSince I had just come out of solitary confinement, I protested. I wanted to find out what they were up to,\u201d he said. \u201cI told\u00a0Lashgari\u00a0that I just came out of solitary confinement. He said, \u2018It\u2019s not in my control. Come out.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were around sixty to seventy prisoners who were taken out.\u00a0Lashgari\u00a0asked us a few questions, then divided us into two groups. A group of prisoners and I were taken to one of the sections, and the rest of the prisoners were taken to solitary confinement,\u201d Samadi said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The 1988 Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran: Eyewitness Accounts, Akbar Samadi<\/div><\/div>
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