The trial of an Iranian prosecutor alleged to have played a role in the mass executions of the late 1980s is slated to take place in June 2021.
Hamid Nouri, real name Hamid Abbasi, was arrested by Swedish authorities in November 2019 and charged with five counts related to the massacre of dissidents in Iran in 1988.
Nouri served as an assistant prosecutor for Rajaei Shahr Prison in the 1980s and is alleged to have sat on the “death panel” which decided which political prisoners were to be executed and when, by appointment of Ayatollah Khomeini.
Nouri’s arrest came about after a private complaint had been filed by Kaveh Moussavi, a UK-based human rights attorney, and he was later remanded in custody by Stockholm District Court. On Wednesday, March 24, Moussavi tweeted to say the trial is due to resume on June 8 and will run until February 2022.
“My commitment to the Iranian nation,” he wrote. “We will arrest each of the perpetrators of the crimes of the last 43 years and punish them with the law.”
The hearing was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and the lengthy evidence-gathering process. IranWire understands that the prosecution is due to provide evidence from more than 30 witnesses.
Thousands of people, many of them leftists and members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization (MEK), were rounded up and jailed in Iran in the late 1980s. Those deemed unlikely to commit themselves to Islam and Khomeini were then sent in groups to be executed by hanging, and were buried in secret in mass graves.
Their families not allowed to bury their loved ones, or to know where they had been buried. The Islamic Republic’s ongoing withholding of this information from families has been determined a crime against humanity by United Nations human rights experts.
Related coverage:
Iran Must Take Responsibility for its Crimes Against Humanity
Justice at Last? 1988 Massacre Suspect Arrested in Sweden
Iranian Perpetrators of Violence Can Face Justice in Europe
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