London, 19 December — Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) welcomes the decision today by Sweden’s Court of Appeals to uphold a guilty verdict and life sentence for Hamid Noury over his role in the 1988 massacre.
In 2022, the Stockholm District Court found former Iranian prison official Hamid Noury (Nouri) guilty of murder and serious crimes against international law for his part in the mass extra-judicial executions and enforced disappearances of political prisoners in Iran in 1988.
“Our assessment is that the prosecutor’s case is robust and overall compelling and that the district court was correct to find the prosecutors charges largely substantiated,” judge Robert Green of the Svea Court of Appeal announced on Tuesday.
JVMI believes it is high time for all democratic states to use the principle of Universal Jurisdiction to prosecute all those directly involved in the 1988 massacre, including current Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
In 1988, Raisi was Deputy Prosecutor of Tehran and a member of the Tehran Death Commission which sent thousands of prisoners to their deaths.
The culture of impunity that exists in Iran today stems from the failure of the international community to hold Iranian officials accountable for their previous major crimes, chief among them the 1988 extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances of political prisoners.
Given their extensive history of mass murder and crimes against humanity, it is imperative for the international community to identify and hold the Iranian authorities, including Ebrahim Raisi, accountable for their crimes under international law.
Background
In 1988, the government of Iran massacred 30,000 political prisoners. The executions took place based on a fatwa (religious decree) by Supreme Leader Khomeini ordering the liquidation of all political prisoners affiliated to the opposition PMOI (MEK). Three-member ‘Death Commissions’ were formed across Iran sending political prisoners who refused to abandon their beliefs to execution. The victims were buried in secret mass graves. The perpetrators continue to enjoy impunity. They include Iran’s current President Ebrahim Raisi and Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei.