Sweden charges Iranian for alleged role in 1988 ‘war crimes’ and mass executions of political prisoners

Hamid Noury has been charged in connection with the mass killings of prisoners towards the end of the 1980-1988 war between Iran and Iraq

Noury’s lawyer said he denies the charges. Facing him in the trial is a group of former prisoners who witnessed the alleged atrocities

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An exhibit by the Organisation of the Iranian American Communities, near the US Capitol in Washington, highlights human rights violations by Iran. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:01am, 28 Jul 2021Updated: 2:56am, 28 Jul 2021

Swedish prosecutors said on Tuesday they were charging an Iranian man for “war crimes and murder” over the execution of more than 100 political prisoners in 1988 in Karaj, Iran.

The case against 60-year-old Hamid Noury, who was arrested in Sweden in 2019, concerns his alleged part in the mass killings of prisoners towards the end of the 1980-1988 war between Iran and Iraq.

Noury was arrested upon his arrival at the airport in Stockholm, with Swedish media reporting at the time that he was visiting relatives.

Human rights groups have been campaigning for years for justice for what they consider to be the extrajudicial execution of thousands of Iranians, mostly young people, across the country in the late 1980s.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, on Friday. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP

Sweden’s Prosecution Authority said in a statement that the prisoners had been linked to the “People’s Mujahedin of Iran,” a political organisation seeking to overthrow the clerical leadership whose armed branch had launched several attacks against Iran.