Sweden: Verdict expected as Iranian tried for 1980s crimes

A Swedish court is expected to give a verdict in the trial of an Iranian citizen accused of murder and other war crimes during the final phase of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s

Sweden Iran Trial

A Swedish court was expected to give a verdict Thursday in the trial of an Iranian citizen accused of murder and other war crimes during the final phase of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

Swedish prosecutors alleged in Stockholm District Court that Hamid Noury took part in severe atrocities in July-August 1988 while working as an assistant to the deputy prosecutor at the Gohardasht prison outside the Iranian city of Karaj.

They said Iran’s supreme leader at the time, Ayatollah Khomeini, had issued an execution order for all prisoners in the country who sympathized and remained loyal with the Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, known as MEK.

Due to that order, a large number of prisoners were executed in the Gohardasht prison between July 30 and Aug. 16, 1988, the Swedish prosecutors said.

The Swedish prosecutors said Noury was suspected of “intentionally killing, together with other perpetrators, a large number of prisoners who sympathized with various left-wing groups and who were regarded as apostates.”

During the trial proceedings that ended May 4, Noury has denied wrongdoing,

The verdict in his case comes at a tense time for the ties between Stockholm and Tehran. A number of Europeans were detained in Iran in recent months, including a Swedish tourist, two French citizens, a Polish scientist and others.

The detentions aroused concerns that Iran hoped to leverage the prisoners as bargaining chips to pressure the United States and European nations to grant the sanctions relief it received under its tattered 2015 nuclear accord with world powers.

Noury was arrested in November 2019 when he arrived in Stockholm and has been in custody since then. Swedish news agency TT said he was lured to Sweden, believing he would go sightseeing, meet women and attend parties.