A Swedish appeals court upheld a life sentence for Hamid Noury, a former Iranian official found guilty in 2022 for his involvement in the mass execution of political prisoners in Iran in 1988. The decision, met with cheers from protesters, led to accusations from Iran of a politically motivated verdict.
Abdolreza Shafie, a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, expressed satisfaction, stating, “It’s a great day, it’s a beautiful day, and justice has prevailed.”
Noury’s son, Majeed Noury, criticized the trial’s fairness in an interview with Iran’s Fars news agency, pledging to present evidence in higher Swedish and international courts.
The case stems from the 1988 killings at Gohardasht prison targeting members of the Iranian People’s Mujahideen. Amnesty International estimates around 5,000 executions, while Iran has never acknowledged the killings.
The arrest of Noury in 2019 strained relations between Sweden and Iran. Recently, Sweden called for the release of Johan Floderus, a European Union employee facing charges in Iran. Rights groups and governments accuse Iran of using arrests for political leverage, while Tehran maintains the arrests are based on its criminal code.
