![\"Iran-Noury-Session-Raisi-NCRI\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Iran-Noury-Session-Raisi-NCRI.jpg\" "\\"Iran-Noury-Session-Raisi-NCRI\\"")
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This past week, a district court in Stockholm held three sessions<\/a> in which Hamid Noury, a former Iranian prison official, spoke in his own defense. Noury was arrested upon traveling to Sweden in 2019 and was later indicted for war crimes and mass murder based on evidence that he participated in a massacre of political prisoners during the summer of 1988<\/a>. Since proceedings in his case began<\/a> in August, the court has heard from more than 20 eyewitnesses to that crime against humanity, including seven who reside in Albania at a compound established by the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK)<\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Prosecutors requested that the trial be temporarily relocated<\/a> to Albania earlier in November, in consideration of that testimony\u2019s importance. The\u00a0MEK\u00a0is the leading voice for a democratic alternative to Iran\u2019s theocratic dictatorship, and in 1988 it was the main target of the nationwide massacre, having been singled out by the underlying fatwa issued by then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini. That fatwa declared all supporters of the\u00a0MEK\u00a0to be inherently guilty of \u201cenmity against God,\u201d and Khomeini followed up on this by instructing officials to \u201cannihilate the enemies of Islam\u00a0[regime]\u00a0immediately.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On the basis of\u00a0that order,\u00a0several committees\u00a0were formed in cities across\u00a0Iran\u00a0which came to be known as \u201cdeath commissions.\u201d The first of these, in Tehran, held jurisdiction over\u00a0Evin\u00a0and\u00a0Gohardasht\u00a0Prisons, with the latter being the facility at which Noury was\u00a0working\u00a0at the time of the massacre. Former inmates at each of these prisons recall their fellows being taken to the \u201cdeath hall\u201d and then to the gallows in groups of a dozen or more. The Tehran death commission helped to set a pace of execution that would ultimately lead to 30,000 people\u00a0being hanged and buried in secret mass graves over the course of about three months\u00a0across Iran.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In his defense statements,\u00a0Noury\u00a0claimed to have been on leave during the summer in question, and he also asserted that \u201cthere is no prison called\u00a0Gohardasht.\u201d These claims were, of course, contradicted in advance by each of the other witnesses, most of whom recalled direct dealings with Noury as he ordered them from their cells, led them before the death commission, and separated prisoners into groups based on the commission\u2019s judgement. Some also recalled Noury being present in the room or even directly participating in torture sessions at\u00a0Gohardasht\u00a0in the run-up to the mass executions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Formal testimony to this effect has been strengthened over the past several months by numerous public statements from expatriates, former political prisoners, and relatives of the massacre\u2019s victims who were not able to participate in the trial themselves. In total, the Noury trial is expected to last more than eight months, but naturally there are limits to the number of witnesses who can be heard. However, gatherings outside the Stockholm court make it clear that there are hundreds of other people who would eagerly testify against Noury or against any other major participant in the 1988 massacre.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The same message was conveyed by similar gatherings outside the court in Durres during the temporary change of venue. While trial sessions at that court were still being ongoing, the PMOI compound Ashraf 3 played host to a large-scale conference on the massacre and its legacy, featuring speeches from a dozen former political prisoners, with one thousand other\u00a0former political prisoners\u00a0in attendance.\u00a0That conference mirrored\u00a0a number of\u00a0previous events organized by the\u00a0National Council of Resistance of Iran, following the revelation earlier this year that Ebrahim Raisi would be the next president of\u00a0the regime.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Raisi formally took office in August, leaving behind the position of judiciary chief, to which he had been appointed in 2019. In that prior role, Raisi oversaw major elements of a crackdown on dissent which developed in response to a nationwide uprising. In November 2019,\u00a0over\u00a01,500 Iranians were killed during several days of protests, and Raisi\u2019s judiciary\u00a0began to systematically torture arrestees, and continued to do so for several months. The severity of this violence came as little surprise to those familiar with Raisi\u2019s background, which includes a leading role in the 1988 massacre, as one of four officials on the Tehran death commission.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Although Noury futilely denied his own role and even denied that the massacre took place at all, he also took advantage of the latest trial sessions in order to reference Raisi\u2019s presidency and praise leading regime authorities. This decision conveys much the same embrace of the massacre\u2019s legacy as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei conveyed when he appointed Raisi to head the judiciary, then\u00a0selected him as the regime\u2019s president.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n November 26 – Stockholm Part 1pic.twitter.com\/UhYzPLj7Hh<\/a><\/p>\n — People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) November 26, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the #Iran<\/a> opposition PMOI\/MEK call for the prosecution and accountability of Iranian regime officials involved in the summer #1988Massacre<\/a>.#ProsecuteRaisiNOW<\/a> <\/p>\n