{"id":252494,"date":"2021-12-04T03:10:02","date_gmt":"2021-12-04T08:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=252494"},"modified":"2023-02-01T04:37:33","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T03:37:33","slug":"statements-by-hamid-noury-reflect-iranian-regimes-fear-of-mek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/human-rights\/statements-by-hamid-noury-reflect-iranian-regimes-fear-of-mek\/","title":{"rendered":"Statements by Hamid Noury Reflect Iranian Regime\u2019s Fear of MEK"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Swede-demonstration\"<\/p>\n

Over the past two weeks, the former Iranian prison official<\/a> Hamid Noury testified in his own defense at five sessions in a Stockholm court. Noury stands accused of war crimes and mass murder stemming from his role in the massacre of Iranian political prisoners<\/a> in 1988. He is being tried by Swedish authorities on the basis of \u201cuniversal jurisdiction,\u201d which allows for serious violations of international law to be prosecuted by any nation, regardless of the victims\u2019 nationality or where those crimes took place.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of the 1988 massacre<\/a>\u2019s victims were members and supporters of the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK<\/a>), Iran\u2019s leading pro-democracy opposition group. The international community should use the Swedish proceedings<\/a> as a starting point for broader inquiries and prosecution of other, higher-level participants in the massacre. To date, Noury is the only person to face legal consequences for that massacre.<\/p>\n

Other key perpetrators of the 1988 massacre include the regime President Ebrahim Raisi<\/a>, who was selected in June while the majority of people boycotted the sham elections<\/a>. The boycott underscores public awareness of the 1988 massacre, which grew substantially from 2016 onward, following the leak of an audio recording in which one government official condemned his colleagues while the mass executions were ongoing.<\/p>\n

\"Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1\"<\/a>The boycott and accompanying protests highlight public support for the MEK as well, though few public demonstrations referenced the organization by name. As part of his remarks in Stockholm, Noury indirectly explained why this was. When questioned by the judge about his use of a derogatory term, Monafeqin, or \u201chypocrites,\u201d for the MEK, the defendant explained that the mere utterance of the group\u2019s proper name was grounds for arrest and prosecution in Iran and that it would \u201ccreate problems\u201d for Noury if he were to use that name even in the context of his trial on European soil.<\/p>\n

At one point, Noury even urged the judge to avoid saying the word \u201cMojahedin,\u201d as if to suggest that he could be arrested upon return to Iran if he were simply in the room when someone else identified the MEK by name. Such statements demonstrate the depth of the Iranian regime\u2019s fear of the leading voice for a democratic alternative. That fear has no doubt grown in recent years, following multiple nationwide uprisings and other large-scale protests with the MEK playing the leading role in them.<\/p>\n

In the last days of 2017, one such uprising emerged from a protest in the city of Mashhad that was initially focused on economic issues. As it spread to well over 100 cities and towns, that uprising took on a much more expansive political message, featuring slogans like \u201cdeath to the dictator\u201d and calls for regime change. At the height of the uprising in January 2018, Ali Khamenei delivered a speech in which he attempted to discredit the protesters by noting that the MEK had \u201cplanned for months\u201d to facilitate the uprising and guide its messaging.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, these remarks only served to confirm the extent of MEK’s influence over Iranian society, thus undermining many years of regime propaganda that referred to the MEK as a \u201ccult\u201d and a \u201cgrouplet\u201d with little real support inside Iran. Nevertheless, Hamid Noury attempted to revive those talking points in his most recent trial sessions, taking time away from his own defense in order to praise the clerical regime and condemn the democratic opposition.<\/p>\n

Iran’s disinformation campaign against the MEK via ‘friendly journalists’<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>
Iran's disinformation campaign against the MEK via 'friendly journalists'<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>