No Hiding Place

Day 1 : Opening of the case

10 August 2021: On 9 November 2019, Hamid Noury, an Iranian national was arrested by the Swedish police upon arrival in Sweden at Arlanda airport on the suspension of his involvement in the 1988 prison massacres in Iran when thousands of political prisoners were summarily executed and forcibly disappeared in unmarked and mass graves across the country (see: PainScapes).

On 13 November 2019, the Stockholm District Court made a decision to detain Hamid Noury for suspected of crime in Iran against international law, gross crime, and murder during the period of 28 July – 31 August 1988 in Teheran, Iran. The decision had been extended on a monthly basis.

On 27 July 2021, the Swedish public prosecution team led by Kristina Lindhoff Carleson issued an indictment charging Hamid Noory for war crimes and murder committed during the 1988 prison massacres.

According to the indictment, at the time of these mass executions the accused held the position of assistant to the deputy prosecutor (dadyar) at Gohardasht prison. He is suspected of participating in the mass executions and, as such, intentionally murdering a large number of prisoners who sympathised with the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) as well as those who sympathised with other left wing political organisations and were regarded as apostates. It classifies the conflict between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the PMOI as an international armed conflict and thus, the execution and torture of the organisation’s prisoners as war crimes. In the absence of an armed conflict between the leftist organisation and Iran, the execution of their sympathisers are considered murder according to the indictment.

On August 10th, 2021, the Stockholm District Court began the trial under the case number B15255-19 and Nouri faced the Swedish prosecutors. With Noury denying all charges as expected, the judge allowed the prosecution to present their arguments, which were a series of chapters explaining the facts of the situation. For the first time in 33 years, the names of dozens of victims were recited for the first time in such an official setting, while the families and friends of victims gathered outside the courtroom.

 

On the first day of the trial, the prosecution began laying out their strategies. The prosecution has claimed that Noury aided in bringing selected inmates to the Death Committee and assisting them in the operations involved in the massacre, as the assistant to Naserian, the deputy of Gohardasht Prison.

Judge Tomas Zander is presiding over the case. A total of 29 individuals are listed as plaintiffs in relation to the charge of war crimes, with 23 of those being former prisoners at Gohardasht associated with the PMOI. An additional 6 are the relatives of the prisoners associated with the PMOI who were executed. The prosecution has listed 110 individuals associated with the PMOI who are known to have been executed at Gohardasht.

Seven are listed as plaintiffs in relation to the charge of murder, all being relatives of prisoners associated with the leftist political organisations in opposition of the regime who were executed at Gohardasht.  The prosecution has also listed the names of 26 individuals associated with such organisations who are known to have been executed at Gohardasht.

Several former prisoners who themselves were not subjected to torture (and as such are called as witnesses and not included as plaintiffs) will also be giving statements. The court will also hear from a range of Swedish, Iranian, and international experts on the political situation of Iran at the time, on the prisons massacre in the summer of 1988.

In the 1980s, the Iranian government began a campaign of eliminating all political opposition by arresting, killing and forcibly disappearing political activists and prisoners. Its peak was in the summer of 1988, when the ‘Death Committee,’ a panel of officials determining the fate of prisoners. The prisoners were asked if they were prepared to express repentance for their past political beliefs and activities and denounce their political groups in writing. Although the numbers are only estimates, it is undeniable that thousands were killed in the massacre, most buried in unmarked or mass graves. The families and friends of the victims have been persecuted and tormented for the past 33 years, being denied the right to mourn their loved ones.

Noury is the first alleged perpetrator of this atrocity that is being formally tried in a court of law. This trial may open the window for trying other perpetrators, including Iran’s current president, Ebrahim Raisi, a member of the Death Committee.

Hamid Noury will continue to face a trial that will likely last until April 2022. Justice for Iran will update as the trial continues.

 

More information in English

1. Report 1: Historic Trial on 1988 Mass-Executions in Iran begins in Stockholm District Court, by Civil Rights Defenders

More information in Persian

1. Part of the hearing sessions recorded and live broadcast by Iran Watch: Parts one, two, three, four, five, and six)
2. Report 1: Historic Trial on 1988 Mass-Executions in Iran begins in Stockholm District Court (by Civil Rights Defenders, Persian Translation by Iran Human Rights Documentation Center)
3. The Indictment, Translated by Iran Human Rights Documentation Center

 

Day 2: Presenting the facts by prosecutors

11 August 2021: The prosecution’s presentation continued today. She read the fatwa (religious order or decree) issued by former Supreme Leader, Khomeini.  The prosecution continued by talking of the nature of the massacre, saying the trials that committed thousands to death were arbitrary – victims did not have access to lawyers, and they were not fair trials. The prosecutor concluded that due to the nature of these trials, all those involved in the 1988 massacre are accomplices to murder.

The prosecution described the torture that survivors have expressed, saying it was inhumane. The torture was sometimes extended to the point of near death in all prisons, including Gohardasht where Noury was involved. The prosecution concluded by reading out the names of the accomplices to the massacre, including that of Ebrahim Raisi, the current president of Iran.

 

 More information in Persian

1. The hearing sessions recorded and live broadcast by Iran Watch: Parts one,  two, and  three.
2. Persian translation of the indictment by Iran Human Rights Documentation Center

Day 3 : Evidence of Noury’s relationship with Iran’s highest-ranking judiciary officials

12 August 2021: Continuing on from yesterday, the prosecution presented more facts about the massacre. They read from written documents, including memoirs written by the survivors. These documents detailed the Death Committee at Gohardasht Prison, the beginnings of the 1988 prisons massacre, and the role of the accused in it.

The names of the victims, specifically those who were killed in the first few days of the massacre, were read. The prosecutors stressed that the Death Committee only asked the prisoners questions about their ideologies at the trial, not about their alleged crimes. The proceeding was concluded with the prosecution presenting evidence obtained from Noury’s phone, confirming that he has a close relationship to the most high-ranking officials in the Islamic Republic judiciary.

 

The ‘Death Committee’ consisted of high-ranking judicial and security officials formed according to  Khomeini’s fatwa in prisons across the country. According to numerous witnesses who survived the massacre, in Gohardahst prison the Death Committee’s members were as follows:

Hossein Ali Nayyeri (Head of the Disciplinary Court for Judges), Mostafa PourMohammadi (Advisor to the head of Judiciary and former Minister of Justice), Morteza Eshraghi (Senior Attorney at Law and a Member of Iran’s Bar Association), and Ebrahim Raisi (Iran’s current President and former Head of Judiciary).

More information in English

Report 2: First Week of Trial Concluded, by Civil Rights Defenders

More information in Persian

1. The hearing sessions recorded and live broadcast by Iran Watch: Prats one, two, and three.
2. (Report 2: First Week of Trial Concluded, by Civil Rights Defenders, Persian Translation by Iran Human Rights Documentation Center

Day 4: The order that triggered it all

17 August 2021: Continuing with the last three sessions, the prosecution presented more evidence relating to the 1988 massacre. The first part of the proceeding today was spent reading excerpts from Montazeri’s memoir. Montazeri, who was Iran’s deputy leader at the time, was against the mass executions. Both his memoir and the tape recording that was later leaked in 2016 confirm that a fatwa was issued by Khomeini and this massacre did indeed take place.

The prosecutors proceeded to present evidence from the second wave of executions in late August 1988, which mostly consisted of eliminating leftist prisoners. It was demonstrated that these individuals were routinely asked about their religious beliefs by the Death Committee and non-believers were tortured until they repented or were executed. The prosecutors described how these victims were often whipped five times a day, the same number of times Muslims are supposed to pray, until they submitted to prayer.

Finally, the prosecution spoke about the judgements of Iran Tribunal which took place in 2012. The tribunal ruled that the 1988 massacre amounted to crimes against humanity.

More information in English

Report 3: The Prosecution’s Opening Presentation pt. 1, by Civil Rights Defenders

Report 4: The Prosecution’s Opening Presentation pt. 2, by Civil Rights Defenders

More information in Persian

1. The hearing sessions recorded and live broadcast by Iran Watch: Part one, Part two
2. Report 3: The Prosecution’s Opening Presentation pt. 1 (by Civil Rights Defenders, Persian Translation by Iran Human Rights Documentation Center)
3. Report 4: The Prosecution’s Opening Presentation pt. 2 (by Civil Rights Defenders, Persian Translation by Iran Human Rights Documentation Center)

Day 5: Denial

20 August 2021: It was the defence’s turn to present their strategy today. They challenged the evidence submitted by the prosecution, such as the judgement of People’ International Court of Iran Tribunal, the fatwa and the then deputy leader, Montazeri’s memoir. The defence team claimed that because Iranian authorities did not testify at Iran Tribunal, its findings are not fair to use as evidence. Note that the alleged perpetrators were formally invited to defend themselves but refused to do so.

They challenged the fatwa by claiming that it does not have a date. They also went on to speak about the discrepancies between the original fatwa and evidence presented at Iran Tribunal, such as Ebrahim Raisi’s name being mentioned.

The defence seems to have relied on the crutch of minute discrepancies between any evidence presented. This also included the differences between Montazeri’s memoirs and the audio file published in 2016 from a meeting he held in 1988 with senior judges and judiciary officials involved in the mass executions, now known as the Death Committee.

They then moved on to denying that Noury had ever worked at Gohardasht Prison in any position at the time of the massacre. They claimed that he had worked in admin at Evin Prison and had only visited Gohardasht, Ghezelhesar and Ghasr prisons on a few occasions. Furthermore, the defence alleged that Noury was on leave from 29^th July 1988 when his daughter was born and was thus unaware of any massacre.

Moving onto the charge of war crime, the defence argued that the PMOI attack that occurred on the 26^th of July 1988 was not part of the Iran-Iraq war and was hence not an international armed conflict. They also stated that it was not a non-international conflict as it did not meet the criteria defined by the law of war. They also mentioned that the PMOI were financially and operationally independent from the Iraqi government; they only needed permission to use their land for their bases.

The defence referred to the Amnesty International report, ‘Blood-Soaked Secrets: Why Iran’s 1988 prison massacres are ongoing crimes against humanity’ to add that the massacre had been planned for months in advance of the PMOI attack, and thus the massacre and the conflict were unrelated.

 

Lastly, the defence provided evidence of Facebook posts, videos and interviews done by those involved in Noury’s arrest (i.e. some plaintiffs and witnesses), saying that their defendant’s name and image were shared and publicised before the police had begun its investigation.

In today’s session, the victims’ lawyers briefly introduced the main points of their opening presentation, including the Iranian laws based on which they are going to claim compensations.

Then, Kenneth Lewis, the lawyer who has been privately appointed by three plaintiffs, stated that his clients’ differing opinion from the prosecution about the armed conflict between the Islamic Republic and the PMOI was not of an international nature, but it was non-international.

He stated that the PMOI had not received financial and armament support from the Iraqi government as confirmed by the ICRC reports. He then followed by arguing that the massacre should be considered genocide as the executions were based on the ground of religion, not only for the leftist prisoners but also for the PMOI.

 

More information in English

Report 5: The Defense’s Opening Presentation, by Civil Rights Defenders

Report 6: Opening Presentation by the Victim Counsels, by Civil Rights Defenders

More information in Persian

1- The hearing sessions recorded and live broadcast by Iran Watch.

2- Report 5: The Defense’s Opening Presentation (by Civil Rights Defenders, Persian Translation by Iran Human Rights Documentation Center)

 

Day 6: The first witness is heard

23 August 2021: Today, the defence wrapped up their arguments by pointing to a discrepancy found in the prison memoirs. They criticised the methodology of the lists of victims that the survivors had compiled, due to inconsistencies in names, ages and other fine details.

The first witness and plaintiff was called today. Iraj Mesdaghi was questioned by the prosecutor on his time in prison as a follower of the PMOI, meeting Noury at Gohardasht and details about the prison. The witness emphasised the importance of Noury’s role as the assistant to Naserian (Mohammad Moghiseh) who is now a judge on the Revolutionary Court and sanctioned by the US and EU for his role in human rights abuses. ) To know more about Mohammad Moghiseh, see his profile at the Faces of Crime Database.)

The prosecutor asked Mesdaghi about the maps of Gohardasht Prison in his book. He confirmed that all the maps were drawn by him and he was only assisted by a friend who knew AutoCAD to make them look professional. A large part of the hearing today was spent on the details of Gohardsaht prison, where the wards, the death corridor and other sections were in the maps drawn by the witness which is a part of the prosecution’s evidence.

More information in Persian

The hearing sessions recorded and live broadcast by Iran Watch

Day 7: Noury’s role in selecting prisoner’s for the Death Committee

25 August 2021: The first witness and plaintiff examination continued today with Iraj Mesdaghi who was asked about the massacre at Gohardasht Prison and those who were taken to the Death Committee and did not return.

The witness revealed that the Death Committee punished Mojtaba Akhgar, a prisoner at Gohardasht, with 100 lashes. Noury had volunteered to execute the order and delivered the punishment. The witness also testified about his encounter with the Death Committee and how Noury was involved in selecting prisoners who were brought before the Death Committee.

More information in Persian:

The hearing sessions recorded and live broadcast by Iran Watch: Part one, Part two, Part three.

The VOA interview with Mojtaba Akhgar

Day 8: More evidence of the massacre’s victims

26 August 2021: The session was a continuation of Iraj Mesdaghi’s examination. The witness spoke about the victims of the massacre at Gohardasht Prison. He was asked how he had made the list of victims. He replied that it was compiled by other prisoners and has been corrected as new information has come to light.

On the question of why the witness had posted photos of the accused on his Facebook prior to the investigation, he answered that he wanted others who had been affected to come forward

More information in Persian

The hearing sessions recorded and live broadcast by Iran Watch: Parts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

Day 9: The Gas Chamber

1 September 2021: This was the cross-examination for Iraj Mesdaghi, witness and plaintiff, followed by questions from the prosecutor and his lawyer.

The defence referred to a part in the witness testimony about seeing Noury for the 1^st time in Gohardasht Prison in 1987, torturing prisoners by placing 40-50 of them in a closed room coined the ‘gas chamber’ with no fresh air until they almost suffocated. The lawyer questioned the witness on the date and whereabouts of this event. He replied that this had occurred 33 years ago, while he was under continuous torture and thus could not remember the details. He said he was a prisoner seeing this from under a blindfold, not a tourist. They then asked where Noury had been standing when he and others had beat the prisoners before having them taken into the ‘gas chamber’. The witness repeated that this was 33 years ago, and he had been tortured so frequently that he cannot remember the details of each incident.

The defence pointed to a few discrepancies between the witness statement and his memoir of the events, as well as the examination in court last week. Their strategy was to show that he had not mentioned Noury in his books but is now attributing some incidents to him after the fact. They stated what he had written about prisoners being questioned about participating in the March 1988 parliamentary election and asked why the witness had swapped Lashkari with Noury in his testimonies.

Another issue raised by the defence was the witness mentioning the names of Naserian and Lashkari in his book as those responsible for classifying prisoners prior to the massacre but in his testimonies after Noury’s arrest, he claimed that Noury was also involved in this. The defence spoke on acts attributed to Naserian in the book which were then changed to Noury in interrogations and court. One was the events leading up to Nasser Mansouri’s execution, a disabled prisoner taken from the prison clinic before the Death Committee on a stretcher.

The witness refused to recognise the discrepancies and explained that he had only named prominent perpetrators in his book, including Naserian, the Deputy Prosecutor and Lashkari, the head of security. Noury was only the assistant to Naserian but used to accompany him everywhere. He said that the reason that Naserian has a significant place in his books is that he is currently a high-ranking judge in the Revolutionary Court and has been sentencing civil and political activists to death or long-term imprisonment in recent years.

The defence retorted by stating that the witness had mentioned Noury at other points in his book. They also referred to differences between his book and books written by other witnesses about the dates of the massacre at Gohardasht and the names of the victims. He replied by saying that he is only responsible for his own work, not that of others and believes it is accurate. He explained that despite knowing English he does not take responsibility for the translation of his book on the 1988 massacre as it is the work of a translator.

The defence tried to question him on the map of the prison by asking about the lengths of rooms and dimensions of corridors. The witness said he had not memorised them because he thought they lacked importance – he had only remembered details such as the Death Committee’s room and its members.

To end the cross-examination, the defence asked about the photo of Noury posted by Mesdaghi on Facebook. He said he had obtained it from Noury’s stepdaughter’s ex-husband. He confirmed that the police had asked the witness not to distribute the photos, on November 14th, 2019.

Lastly, the prosecution asked the purpose behind posting such photos. The witness replied that he had wanted other potential witnesses all over the world to be notified and come forward.

More information in Persian

A part of the hearing sessions recorded and live broadcast by Iran Watch

The full transcription of Iraj Mesdaghi’s testimonies

Day 10: Examination of the second witness and the Death Corridor

2 September 2021: Witness examinations continued today with Nasrollah Marandi who now lives in Sweden. He was arrested in 1982 due to his political activities as a sympathiser of the PMOI and was sentenced to 15 years in prison after a trial in the Revolutionary Court that lasted at most 10 minutes.

The witness said that on August 1^st, 1988, he and other prisoners were taken away from the ward by Naserian and Noury. They asked them about the reason for their conviction, and if they want to be amnestied. They then divided them into different cells. He was taken into the large corridor of Gohardasht prison, which prisoners had dubbed “the Death Corridor”, on August 3rd, 1988. He saw Noury there. He was then taken to the Death Committee by Naserian. Marandi said that afternoon, when he was still being held in the Death Corridor, Noury read the name of 15 prisoners and ordered the guard to take them to the end of the corridor. The witness named 5 who were known to him, and those 5 never came back. They were all executed.

The prosecutor asked the witness how he was sure it was Hamid Noury as he was blindfolded, and he said that he had known him since the spring of 1987, that Noury had beaten him several times and he was able to distinguish his voice very well.

He was asked if he was tortured in the ‘Gas Chamber’. He said yes and explained that Naserian and Noury ordered the guards to make a tunnel where the prisoners passed through and were beaten by cables and sticks. They were placed in a room with no fresh air until the point of near suffocation.

The witness mentioned that he saw Noury a few years after the massacre after his release entering the Revolutionary Prosecution Office. The witness noticed that Noury had not needed to register his details before entering and assumed that he was working there. Marandi was asked about a conference held by the PMOI in Stockholm in 2011 about the prisons massacre where he mentioned the name of Hamid Noury and when he became aware of Hamid Abbasi’s real name. He said he did not remember exactly when and how.

More information in Persian

The hearing sessions recorded and live broadcast by Iran Watch: Parts one, two, three, four.

 

Day 11: The third witness is heard

3 September 2021: The third witness and plaintiff was heard today. Mahdi Barjasteh Garmaroudi is based in Switzerland, having spent ten years in different prisons in the 1980s for being a sympathizer of the PMOI. He was transferred to Gohardasht Prison six months prior to the massacre. He encountered Noury a few times, one of which was in close proximity and without a blindfold.

He told the court that Naserian and Abbasi (Noury) came to the ward asking who is interested in working in the prison [for free]. He and 22 others refused to participate in the program. Naserian assigned Noury to make a list and they were taken to solitary confinement.

The witness confirmed that Noury was assistant to Naserian who was the most important person at Gohardasht prison. He said that families went to Noury to ask for furlough. Completing his testimony about Noury’s role in Gohardasht, the witness also said that Noury accompanied Naserian everywhere but always two-three steps behind him due to Naserian’s superiority, writing his orders in a notebook. He explained his 2 encounters with the Death Committee in August & September and how he accepted to write a letter of repentance in order to save himself from execution. In addition to those already mentioned by other witnesses he saw Esmaeil Shoushtari in the Death Committee.

The witness recalled sitting in the Death Corridor once. Naserian had called Noury and given him a list of prisoners and ordered him to take them where they were executing prisoners. He said that he could see a blurred image of what was going on through a scarf he used instead of a blindfold.

After being examined, the witness’s lawyer asked about the impact of torture after 10 years in prison. Barjasteh said that because he had been whipped by cables so many times, he can no longer wear shoes. He then apologised to the court for coming in with slippers. He said he takes 14 pills a day for both the physical and mental effects of torture. Elaborating his mental health situation, he said he is under the care of a psychiatrist and sometimes has to spend a week in hospital. He still screams when he sleeps.

Then, the cross examination began. The accused’s lawyer tried to challenge the witness by referring to the discrepancies they had found in the details such as dates, names, places in the statement made to the police and today’s testimony. The defence asked if Barjasteh was under the influence of the testimonies of the two witnesses who testified before him. He denied such influences and said that he cannot remember what exactly he had said to the police in December 2019.

He also said if there are some differences between details, it is because 33 years has passed. He then added that what is important is that he is 100% certain the person in the dock is the same person who was in Gohardasht during the massacre.

More information in Persian

The hearing sessions recorded and live broadcast by Iran Watch: Parts one, two, three.

Day 12: Noury’s role in obtaining video confessions of released prisoners revealed

6 September 2021: Today’s trial was spent hearing the plaintiff/witness, Homayoun Kaviani. He was 17 at his arrest in 1981 as a sympathizer of the PMOI and spent 10 years in several prisons. He was at Gohardasht at the time of massacre in 1988. He studied economics and now lives in Switzerland.

He first saw Noury when he and others were punished for exercising together. He stated that he was tortured three times including being severely beaten and placed in a hot, contained room that was only opened when the prisoners were almost suffocating.  The witness said Noury spoke to him face to face twice to ask his name, his charge and why he partook in collective exercise. He recalled answering that the prison yard is too small and there are too many prisoners, and everything they did would seem collective.

He said that Naserian, the main Deputy Prosecutor (dadyar), told the prisoners that Brother Abbasi (Noury’s pseudonym) was his right hand: “When I’m not here tell him if you have any issues.”

Kaviani said he was taken to the Death Committee by Noury himself. The Committee urged him to fill a letter of repent and while sitting outside the room, he heard Noury ordering a guard to take some prisoners out. He thought they were taken to the ward but later found out that ‘out’ meant execution.

The witness also talked about his encounter with the accused after the massacre, when the prisoners were transferred from Gohardasht to Evin. He said that in Evin Prison, he had to see and ask Noury to give him furlough to visit his dying mother in hospital.

He also saw Noury again a few months after he was released. In around November 1991, he was summoned to Evin prison and when he arrived there, he and a few other former prisoners were blindfolded and taken to a big hall where Noury was sitting and setting up a camera.  Then, Noury videoed each of them saying their names, condemning the political organisations they had belonged to and making a statement saying that should they ever engage in any political activities, they will be sentenced to the highest punishment, implied death penalty.

After the Prosecutor finished, the witness’s lawyers asked him how he had felt when he heard about Noury and saw his photos. He said he was thinking about the torture he had experienced, the friends he had lost and the suffering their families are still enduring.  He said that after he was released, he went to the houses of his friends’ families. When he visited Ramin Ghasemi, one of his friends who was executed after release, they painted the entire house apart from a part of the wall where ink had been splashed by Ramin while filling his pen.

The defence tried challenging him about the discrepancies between the details he told in the police interrogation in December 2019 and the hearing today.

 

More information in Persian

The hearing sessions recorded and live broadcast by Iran Watch: Parts one, two.

Day 13: It’s been 33 years since I last lived; the time just passes

8 September 2021: Today, the Stockholm District Court heard the plaintiff and witness, Siamak Naderi. Born in 1960, Siamak Naderi was arrested in September 1981 for sympathizing with the PMOI and was released a few months after the 1988 massacre.

He stated how Hamid Noury ordered and personally participated in torturing him in the Autumn of 1987 at Gohardasht prison only for leading the collective exercise. He was beaten by six people, including Noury, for several hours while he kept telling him: I am going to beat you in a way that you can say goodbye to exercise forever!

He recalled that as a result of the torture he could not walk for two months and his cellmates lifted him when he needed to use the bathroom.

He also remembered that Noury and Lashkari took the prisoners from their room and on Saturday, the mass executions began. At the beginning there were 53 prisoners; on Wednesday, when he was taken before the Committee, they were only 5-6 people left. He said that under enormous pressure before the Death Committee, he accepted condoning his political organisation and their attack on Iran and that was why he survived the massacre. He could distinguish Noury’s voice while he went around bringing prisoners to Naserian who took them to the Committee.

In responding to the prosecutor’s question, Siamak Naderi explained how from a narrow hole in the window of their room, he saw a refrigerator truck in the yard of the prison, several tarpaulin bags, presumably containing the bodies of executed prisoners, and a guard (Pasdar) who were moving some of the bags.

In response to his lawyer’s questions about the psychological impact of what happened to him in prison, while crying, he said that those executed were his very dear friends and 33 years after the massacre, he has not yet lived but the time has just passed. He said that since the trial began, he has not been able to sleep, and has had nightmares most nights.

Noury’s lawyer started the cross-examination by confirming that the witness saw the accused’s photos on Facebook before being interrogated by the police in late November 2019. They also noted that Naderi pointed to more than one photo when the police showed him nine photos asking if he knew any of them and if any of them could be Hamid Noury.

The cross-examination of the witness will continue tomorrow.

More information in Persian

The hearing sessions recorded and live broadcast by Iran Watch: Parts one, two.

Day 14: Noury spotted suppressing 1999 protests with plain clothes forces

9 September 2021: Day 14 of Hamid Noury’s trial picked up where it left off yesterday: witness and plaintiff Siamak Naderi was questioned by the accused’s lawyers. Like other cross examinations, a large part of the session was spent on the discrepancies between what was said to the police and what was said at court.

The defence also challenged the witness on how he could be certain that in the tarpaulin bags he saw by the refrigerator truck in the yard of the prison were the bodies of executed prisoners. The witness replied that he did not see the bodies inside the bags.

At the end, Siamak Naderi used the opportunity to note that due to the time constraint, he could not elaborate on three more incidents of being tortured by Noury.

Further, the testimony of the next witness and plaintiff, Mohsen Eshaqi, began. Currently living in Germany, alongside with his two brothers, he was in Gohardasht prison at the time of the 1988 prison massacre. He was arrested in 1982 and charged with being a sympathiser of the PMOI, in opposition to the regime, and participation in demonstrations.

The witness described how in preparation for the massacre, the prison authorities separated prisoners who had lived together for a long time, moving them to different wards, making the baseless excuse of issues with the drains.

Another memory he recalled from before the massacre was that he saw on the TV that President Khamenei who is now the Supreme Leader announced that the political prisoners had rioted in some prisons and set them on fire. Eshaqi said he had told his fellow inmates that they would kill them all.

The prosecutor asked the witness about the positions of different prison authorities including Noury. He said the prisoners knew him as dadyar in charge of judicial affairs. He also counted prisoners every night. The witness saw him twice or three times without a blindfold.

Eshaqi also confirmed that the accused took the prisoners to the Death Corridor.

Eshaqi saw the accused in 1991 at Evin prison where the witness worked as a technician. He said that Noury’s office was on the floor above where he worked. The witness also saw the accused and Majid Qodusi, an employee of the Revolutionary Court, among the plain clothes forces brutally suppressing the 1999 student protests.

 More information in Persian

The hearing sessions recorded and live broadcast by Iran Watch: Parts one, two, three.

Day 15: Pastries at the sight of execution

14 August 2021: On day 15 of Hamid Noury’s trial, the court heard Ramazan Fathi, who was arrested in 1981 on charges of supporting the PMOI. He was transferred from Evin to Gohardasht Prison in 1985. He was at this prison at the time of the 1988 massacre.

In addition to his role in the 1988 massacre in Gohardasht Prison, Fathi said that Noury was also involved in executing political dissidents at Evin Prison in 1980s. He said that Hamid Noury, then known as Hamid Abbasi, was seen in the execution room at Evin Prison.

He described the beginning of the mass executions in Gohardasht Prison as follows: “They came and separated ten people from our ward and took them to court. Hamid Noury oversaw the deputy prosecution office (dadyari) at the time. He questioned a group of prisoners before taking them to the Death Committee. “

 He referred to a window in the amphitheatre of Gohardasht Prison that faced the executioners building. Fathi said the prisoners had dug a hole under the window to see what was going on there. “We saw the corpses being lifted and thrown into the car,” Fathi said. “We counted up to 30 bodies.” Ramazan Fathi said the night after they went to the window again and saw that two trucks were carrying the bodies of the prisoners. Fathi says Noury was distributing candy during the executions.

He added that Hamid Noury took a group of prisoners to the amphitheatre of Gohardasht Prison for execution.

The prosecutor asked Mr Fathi how he could see that Noury was giving out pastries, as the Death Committee and prison guards celebrating the executions with a blindfold. Fathi responded that he could see as the corridor was crowded and the guards did not pay much attention.

Noury’s lawyers pointed out that that Ramazan Fathi’s testimonies in court are different from what he said during interrogations before the Swedish police. The lawyer further noted that the testimonies of Ramazan Fathi and Iraj Mossadaghi about the events of August 6th are different.

“Maybe Iraj heard these things incorrectly from someone else,” Ramazan Fathi replied.

 More information in Persian

The hearing sessions recorded and live broadcast by Iran Watch: Parts one, two.

 

Day 16: How Noury’s identity was revealed while torturing prisoners

16^th September 2021: Arrested in 1982 when he was still in high school and imprisoned for ten years, Mehdi Eshaqi testified in court about the accused’s role in the execution of political prisoners..  This witness was the first survivor who identified Hamid Abbasi as Hamid Noury.

Mehdi Eshaqi said that Hamid Noury was the second most influential person at Gohardasht after Naserian (Mohammad Moghiseh). He described an encounter with Noury there before the 1988 massacre: “The guards were taking me when I found out that two guards were beating Jafar, my uncle. I ran to my uncle and defended him. Then the guards beat me and took me before Hamid Noury. Noury slapped me and threatened me a lot.”

Eshaqi, who had transferred to Evin prison after the massacre, explained the events that led to identifying Noury’s real name: “It was June 1989 in Evin prison after the death ofthe vampire executioner Khomeini…”  Hamid Noury cut the witness, stood up and said : “Do not insult the Imam!”

In response to this protest, the judge asked Mehdi Eshaqi to not use such words. Mehdi Eshaqi accepted and continued: “After the death of Khomeini, He then mentioned that the weather was so hot and Abbasi took off his jacket and threw it at his chair. His ID fell out and Eshaqi saw his real name on the card while being tortured.

 More information in Persian

The hearing sessions recorded and live broadcast by Iran Watch: Parts one, two.

 

Day 17: May God forgive us; We Should Have Executed All of You

17^th September 2021: Today’s session heard the plaintiff and witness, Ali Akbar Bandali.  He was arrest in 1982 as a sympathiser of the PMOI and spent 13 years in several prisons. He was at Gohardasht prison at the time of the 1988 massacre.

Ali Akbar Bandali said the massacre began on July 30^th, 1988. Like other witnesses, he also talked about trucks carrying the bodies of the executed prisoners. He also elaborated that him and other prisoners saw these trucks from a gap they had made in the window of their room.

Although Ali Akbar Bandali was taken to the Death Committee on August 16^th, 1988, He never faced them. Instead, he evaded execution after agreeing to condemn the PMOI in an interview. The interview was never conducted.

The witness testified about how he knew what Hamid Noury looked like, explaining that the accused worked in the office of the deputy prosecutor (dadyari), and how he had personally harassed and tortured him.

Bandali said that Noury was the second most important person in Gohardasht after Naserian and above Lashkari. He recalled one day after the massacre when Hamdi Noury came to their ward and said,“may God forgive us that we could not execute [Imam] Khomeini’s order. We should have executed all of you.”

There was a row between the witness and the accused when Bandali called Khomeini the cunning devil and Noury made an objection.

After that, his lawyer asked Bandali why he’s certain this Hamid Noury is the same person he saw in Gohardasht prison and he replied: his reaction [about Khomeini] that you just saw was the same as at Gohardasht prison.

 More information in Persian

The hearing sessions recorded and live broadcast by Iran Watch: Parts one, two.

Day 18: Hamid Noury took prisoners to the execution squad

20 September 2021: Two witnesses and plaintiffs were heard today. The court began the first cross-examination of Nasrollah Marandi, a witness from the tenth day of trial. As usual, the defense went through some discrepancies about the details mentioned by Mardani in the police investigation and in the court, what he had witnessed himself and what he had heard from others. Marandi was also given a time to present his own maps from Gohardasht prison and the Death Corridor.

Subsequently, the plaintiff and witness Massoud Ashraf Semnani testified. An engineering student, arrested in 1983 on charges of supporting the PMOI and sentenced to seven years, he currently resides in Sweden and is a Swedish national.

Semnani was transferred from Evin Prison to Gohardasht Prison in February 1987  and was there through the duration of the 1988 massacre. Before his testimony, his lawyer stated that his client still suffers from the torture and is in the care of mental health professional.

He explained his two encounters with the Death Committee and wrote a letter of repentance to save himself from execution. He added that when he took off his blindfold to write the repent letter, he could see that the accused was taking the prisoners to the execution squad. In addition to those already mentioned by other witnesses, he saw Hossein Ali Nayyeri, Morteza Eshragi, and Esmaeil Shoushtari on the Death Committee. From beneath of the blindfold, he also saw a guard having a small bag in hands containing watches, rings and folded papers and that was why he found out that the prisoners are being executed.

According to Semnani, Noury had a significant role in obtaining forced confessions from prisoners before and after the 1988 massacre. He explained that after he was released, the authorities summoned him to Evin Prison. At Evin, Hamid Noury himself obtained the forced confessions. His testimony will continue on 23th September.

 More information in Persian

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch: Parts one, two.

 

 

Day 19: what did we do to deserve death

22 September 2021: The 19^th session of Noury’s trial was the continuation of the prosecutor’s questions for the witness and plaintiff, Masoud Ashraf Semnani followed by his cross-examination.

Responding to the prosecutor’s question about Hamid Noury’s identification, Masoud Ashraf Semnani confirmed that he is sure the defendant is the same person as Hamid Abbasi from Gohardasht prison. The witness added: “He has just gotten a little older.”

The prosecutor asked the witness to talk about how he felt in the Death Corridor. While crying, Semnani said: “It was afternoon. I was thinking about the prisoners who were being taken for exe

cution. In my mind, I saw myself stepping on a stool. They had put the rope around my neck and then pulled the stool from under my feet.”

The witness continued: “I did not know why people like Hamid Noury could so easily take prisoners and execute them. What did we do to deserve death?”Massoud Ashraf Semnani elaborated by mentioning the names of several prisoners executed during the 1988 massacre in Gohardasht prison and said he was once asked by a guard to if he could tell whose bags were whose. He speculated that it may have been so that they could hand them over to families.

The accused’s lawyer challenged the witness by referring to the discrepancies between dates and places in today’s testimony and his statement at Iran Tribunal. The witness confirmed that the maps of Gohardasht printed in the memoir of the first witness, Iraj Mesdaghi, was in fact his drawing from 2005 or 2006. The defense asked him why, after several years, he has just realized that the location of the room where the Death Committee were could not be in the location drawn on the map. The defense suggested that that listening to Mesdaghi’s testimony about discrepancies in the map had made him realize. He repeated that he had not listened to Mesdaghi’s testimonies, and he had just found out about it recently by himself.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch

 

Day 20: We weren’t allowed to mourn after they killed our father

23 September 2021: On the 20^th session, one of the children of the victims testified. Solmaz Alizadeh, the daughter of Mahmoud Alizadeh, gave her testimony via video call.

Mahmoud Alizadeh had a PhD in law and worked for Central Bank. He was arrested on the 10^th of April 1984 on charges of supporting the Organization of Iranian People’s Fedaiyan and was sentenced to two years. After serving his sentence, he was not released from prison. He was subsequently executed in the summer of 1988 at Gohardasht Prison.

Solmaz Alizadeh said in court that his father was executed because he refused to denounce the People’s Fadaiyan Organization, as well as being an atheist. She made the similarity between the Death Committee trials and trials in the Middle Ages for apostasy. She further stated that in the official death certificate, the cause of death was falsely written as a natural death.

The witness continued to talk about the letters his father had sent from prison, adding: “Rereading these letters in court is emotionally distressing.”

Alizadeh said that in addition to the letters, there are two more reasons which confirm her father was executed in Gohardasht. First, the testimonies of other prisoners and second, that Gohardasht Prison was the last place where her father was imprisoned.

Solmaz Alizadeh was 13 years old when she heard about her father’s execution from her mother.

“I was shocked. I could not cry,” she said in response to the prosecutor’s question about how she felt after hearing the news of the execution.

“The Islamic Republic authorities did not allow us to mourn and it made the situation more complicated. After speaking to my father’s friends in 2012, I started mourning. I am undergoing psychotherapy and my therapist says that my problems are due to my father having been executed,” she added.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch: Parts one, two.

 

Day 21: I could not believe that I lost dozens of friends in one day

28 September 2021: The Stockholm District Court heard the plaintiff and witness, Ahmad Ebrahimi who was arrested in 1981 due to his political activities as a sympathizer of the PMOI and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Ahmad Ebrahimi, who now lives as an engineer in the UK, was transferred from Evin to Gohardasht prison four months before the 1988 massacre and saw the defendant there.

Ebrahimi stated that the defendant is very similar to the one he knew as Hamid Noury at Gohardasht prison. The witness continued to talk about the defendant’s unique position in Gohardasht, saying Naserian (Mohammad Moghiseh), Noury, and Lashkari were the most important officials there.

Ahmad Ebrahimi explained his encounters with the Death Committee and how he wrote a letter of repentance to save his life. The witness elaborated by mentioning the names of several prisoners executed during the 1988 massacre at Gohardasht prison and said, “I could not believe that I lost 60 or 70 of my friends in one day.”

Ahmad Ebrahimi recounted a memory of Behnam Rasoul Tabrizi, a fellow prisoner at Gohardasht: “Tabrizi, told me that after the massacre Noury came to our ward and said ‘may God forgive us. [Imam Khomeini] ordered your executions and we failed. If we wanted to carry out the order, we should have killed half of all Iranians. Khomeini’s order is still valid and the executions are not over. If you make any mistake again, we will execute you all!’”

The witness added that he had to flee Iran in 1999 because his life was in danger. He said many of those released after the massacre disappeared in the following years. His wife’s uncle was one of these people.

The hearing concluded with a few questions from Ebrahimi’s and other plaintiffs’ lawyers, and a cross-examination.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch: Parts one, two.

 

 

Day 23:  I dream that I am to be executed but there is no one to do it

01 October 2021: Today’s trial picked up from where it left off yesterday. Fereydoun Najafi Aria, witness and plaintiff, was questioned by th

e prosecutor and the defendant’s lawyers. Like other cross-examinations, a large part of the session was spent on the discrepancies between what was said to the police and what was said in court.

Najafi Aria said that when families came for visits, Noury would eavesdrop on their conversations. The witness also provided more details about the key role of the accused in obtaining forced confessions from prisoners after the 1988 massacre. The witness elaborated that Noury interviewed prisoners in the amphitheater at Evin and they were spectators. He asked prisoners about their political ideologies and told them they would be arrested again and killed if they partook in politics after being released.

In his testimony, Najafi Aria referred to the trauma caused by the years in prison and spoke about its impacts. He stated that he still has nightmares after and dreams that he is to be executed but there is no one to do it. He has been suffering from depression and heart disease since the executions.

Following the examination, Noury’s lawyer challenged the witness on the accuracy of the times and places of some incidents. They claimed that times and places in the testimony contradict Iraj Mesdaghi’s book.

In response, Fereydoun Najafi Aria said that the police did not ask him about the details and he did not have a watch and a calendar in prison. He added that it was not a movie he could watch a hundred times and that Mesdaghi may have also made a mistake.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

 

Day 24: Carousel at the site of a massacre 

04 October 2021: The first part of today’s session was spent hearing the plaintiff, Sarah Rouzdar. She is the sister of Adel Rouzdar who was executed during the 1988 massacre in Gohardasht prison.

Adel Rouzdar was a dentist arrested in 1983 as a sympathizer of the Tudeh Party of Iran (an Iranian communist party). Even though the judicial authorities had sentenced Adel Rouzdar to six years in prison, he was executed on 26^th September 1988, before his sentence ended.

The plaintiff stated that only three months after the execution, the authorities at Evin Prison informed their father of the death. After they had threatened their father, they told him that he is not allowed to hold a funeral ceremony and that the body would not be handed over to the family. They only provided him with a bag of Adel’s belongings.

Rouzdar elaborated that her family still does not know where her brother is buried. She thinks his brother was buried in a mass grave in Khavaran, along with other leftists.

Following Sarah Rouzdar’s statement, Hassan Golzarei, a witness and plaintiff, gave his testimony via video call from Canada where he’s based.

Golzarei was arrested in 1982 due to his political activities as a sympathizer of the PMOI and spent eight years in several prisons. He became a communist while in prison. He said that Hamid Noury was a senior official at Gohardasht prison and tortured prisoners for dining together.

The witness said that in August 1988, the defendant personally took him and several other prisoners to the Death Committee. Golzarei also explained how he accepted writing a letter of repentance to save himself from execution.

He said that after the encounter with the Death Committee, he was transferred to solitary confinement and learned from another prisoner through morse code that a massacre was occurring. He added that there was a carousel near the prison where people were having fun without knowing that not far from the carousel, dozens of people were being executed every night.

He then delved into other encounters with Noury during the massacre. He stated that he heard the defendant’s voice many times during the executions and added that Noury once took his shirt and said: “Since you are communist, you are filthy, and we should not even touch you!”

Golzarei recounted that after the massacre, prisoners were called and taken into a room where they smelled gas. He said he told one of the prisoners that they wanted to kill them with gas and the prisoner replied that he would rather take a deep breath as to die sooner.

His testimony will continue in the next session.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch: Parts one, two.

 

Day 25: ‘The whole world was watching; no one saved us’

06 October 2021: Witness and plaintiff, Hassan Golzari, was questioned by the prosecutor and the defendant’s lawyers. Like other cross-examinations, a large part of the session was spent on the discrepancies between what was said to the police and what was said in court.

Hassan Golzari mentioned that he saw Noury after the massacre obtaining a forced confession from a prisoner.

The prosecutor then asked the court to show the defendant to Hassan Golzari. When he saw the defendant’s face, he confirmed that he is the same person known as Hamid Abbasi at Gohardasht prison.

At the prosecutor’s request, parts of Justice for Iran’s 2018 interview with Golzari, “Blood Moon,” were shown in court. In the video, Hassan Golzari speaks about the 1988 massacre at Gohardasht prison and mentions Abbasi as a prison official.

In response to the prosecutor’s question, Hassan Golzari explained how the defendant had tortured prisoners. He said prison officials came to the ward and beat the prisoners with cables. He added that Hamid Abbasi (Noury) was also there and held a cable in his hand.

The witness then described his encounter with the Death Committee. He also talked about Ebrahim Raisi who was a member of the Committee, saying that Raisi was involved in sentencing him to 12 years in prison and had known him since 1980 when he was the prosecutor of Karaj at the age of 20.

In a part of his testimony, Golzari said that he has been seeing a mental health professional and is prescribed medication due to the trauma caused by his years in prison. He also talked about how he felt at the time of the massacre. He stated that he was helpless and said the whole world was watching but nobody came to save the prisoners.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

 

Day 26: ‘Absolute power turned to fear’

07 October 2021: Today’s session heard the plaintiff and witness, Majid Jamshidiyat, a businessman who now lives in Canada. He was arrested at school in 1980 as a sympathizer of the PMOI and spent 10 years in several prisons. He was at Gohardasht prison at the time of the 1988 massacre.

In response to the prosecutor’s question about the 1988 massacre at Gohardasht prison, Jamshidiyat said he saw a man carrying many ropes in a wheelbarrow.  He added that twenty people were taken from their ward that night and they did not return.

The witness also talked about his encounter with the defendant in ‘the Death Corridor’. Majid Jamshidiyat said that when he was taken to the Death Committee, Noury tapped on his shoulder and said, “it’s finally your last day.”

Jamshidiyat then described his encounter with the Death Committee and mentioned the names of several prisoners executed during the massacre at Gohardasht prison, explaining that he saved himself from execution by writing a letter of repentance. He talked about how he felt death so close to him during the massacre.

Responding to the prosecutor’s question about Noury’s identification, the witness said the defendant has not changed much with age.

Jamshidiyat stated that he saw Noury many times. The witness said that at GohardashtNaserian and Noury interrogated him blindfolded in front of his father without him knowing. The witness said that before being transferred to Gohardasht, he had seen Hamid Noury at Evin prison. The witness also stated that he faced the defendant in Tehran after his release. Elaborating, Noury recognized him and said he no longer works at prisons. The witness referred to Noury and the other perpetrators only feeling powerful when they were prisoners. He felt that Noury was scared of them and thus lied when he told him he no longer works at prisons, but rather in the mining sector.

Jamshidiyat also referred to the trauma caused by the years in prison and spoke about its impacts. He stated that some wounds never heal and would not get better with any medication.

The final part of today’s hearing was dedicated to the cross-examination of the witness. The defendant’s lawyer tried to challenge the witness by referring to the discrepancies they had allegedly found in the details of the statement made to the police and today’s testimony.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch: Parts one, two, three.

 

Day 27: ‘They took all six of my brothers’

October 12: The court heard the plaintiff, Khadijeh Borhani, who was the first witness giving testimony via video call from the PMOI base in Albania. According to Khadijeh Borhani, her brother, Seyyed Mohammad Hossein Borhani, was executed at Gohardasht prison during the 1988 massacre.

She stated that her brother was arrested in 1981 as a sympathizer of the PMOI at the age of 17 and added that even though he was sentenced to life in prison, the Islamic Republic authorities executed him.

She then provided more details about her family, saying that the Islamic Republic has killed six of her brothers, two of whom were executed in the 1988 massacre. She elaborated that Seyyed Mohammad Hossein was executed in Gohardasht but she is not sure whether her other brother, Seyyed Ahmad, was executed there.

The plaintiff said that she was arrested at the age of 12 and was released on bail after eight months. However, she said that she faced many restrictions after the release and was not allowed to study or travel.

Khadijeh Borhani stated that a few months after the massacre, her mother informed her of the death of his brothers through a phone call. She said that the authorities handed over Hossein’s watch and did not return anything from Ahmad.

Following Borhani’s statement, Hossein Seyyed Ahmadi, another plaintiff, testified from Albania via video call. He said that his brother, Mohsen, was arrested in 1980 as a sympathizer of the PMOI and sentenced to a year in prison, only to be executed at Gohardasht prison in 1988 after being transferred from Evin.

According to Ahmadi, his other brother, Mohammad, was executed during the 1988 massacre at Evin prison. He stated that only a few months after the massacre, the authorities at Evin Prison informed his mother of the executions. He said that the prison authorities gave his mother two bags full of his brother’s clothes.

The plaintiff said that no one responded despite his mother repeatedly going to the prison to collect the bodies or get any information about their place of burial.

In response to the prosecutor’s question, Ahmadai explained why he believes that Mohsen was executed in Gohardasht. He said that two prisoners at Gohardasht prison at the time of the 1988 massacre have confirmed that Mohsen was there at the time. Hossein Seyyed Ahmadi also confirmed to the prosecutor that Mahmoud Royaei has talked about Mohsen’s execution in his book.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch: Parts one, two, three.

 

Day 28: Nobody talks about the women who died

14 October 2021: The Stockholm District Court heard two plaintiffs, Mahnaz Meymanat and Mehrin Haji Nejad, whose brothers were executed during the 1988 massacre at Gohardasht prison.

Mahnaz Meymanat, who testified via video call from the PMOI base in Albania, said that two of her brothers were executed in the 1980s. According to the plaintiff, Mahmoud Meymanat was arrested in 1982 as a sympathizer of the PMOI and then released in 1986. He was arrested again two months after release. She stated that even though her brother was sentenced to five years in prison, the Islamic Republic authorities executed him in 1988.

Mahnaz Meymanat said that before the massacre had begun, her father, Abdollah Meymanat, had expressed his concern regarding the presence of Morteza Eshraghi, Hossein Ali Nayeri, Mohammad Moghiseh, and Hamid Abbasi at Gohardasht prison. She elaborated that her father knew of the members of the Death Committee and Hamid Noury because he was an attorney and often visited the prison. The plaintiff stressed that her father had discussed the defendant’s role in the massacre on three occasions.

According to Meymanat, a few months after the massacre, the authorities at Gohardasht informed her father of the death and provided him with a bag of Mahmoud’s belongings. Their father’s efforts to find the whereabouts of the body were futile.

Following Meymanat’s statement, Mehri Haji Nejad, a plaintiff, gave her testimony via video call from the PMOI base in Albania. She stated that her brother, Ali Haji Nejad, was executed in 1988 at Gohardasht prison.

According to the plaintiff, her brother was arrested in 1981 as a sympathizer of the PMOI. She stated that Raisi, as the prosecutor in Karaj, was involved in sentencing her brother to eight years in prison, which was later extended to ten years.

Haji Nejad then talked about her five years in prison, saying she was released in 1986. She explained that many of her fellow prisoners were not released even after having served their sentences. Instead, they were executed during the massacre. Haji Nejad then expressed her deep sorrow, stating that no one in the court’s sessions had spoken about the massacre of women in 1988.

Mehri Haji Nejad said that before informing her mother about Ali’s execution, the Islamic Republic authorities had asked her to go to Gohardasht prison accompanied by a man. At Gohardasht, the prison official told her mother that Ali was an enemy of the Islamic Republic so they had had to execute him.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch: Parts one, two, three, four.

 

Day 29: We killed him on Khomeini’s order

 15 October 2021: The court heard the plaintiff Ja’far Mir Mohammadi via video call from the PMOI base in Albania. He said that his brother Aghil Mir Mohammadi was arrested in March 1982 as a sympathizer of the PMOI. Mir Mohammadi added that his brother was sentenced to ten years in prison, only to be executed at Gohardasht in 1988.

According to Mir Mohammadi, his brother was a law student at the University of Tehran. Until a year after his arrest

, no one knew of his whereabouts. The plaintiff said that his parents visited different prisons for months to find his brother until they found him at Evin, severely tortured.

Ja’far Mir Mohammadi stated that his brother was transferred from Evin to Gohardasht in January 1988. He stated that in October 1988, the authorities at Gohardasht prison told his parents to go to Evin prison. At Evin, they gave his parents a bag full of Aghil’s clothing and his broken watch, saying that they killed him on Khomeini’s fatwa (religious order).

Ja’far Mir Mohammadi also stated that Evin authorities had told his father that they are not allowed to hold a funeral ceremony and the body would not be handed over to the family.

Mir Mohammadi said that his parent believed Aghil’s body might have been buried in a mass grave in Khavaran.

In a part of his testimony, the plaintiff recounted that two of Aghil’s fellow prisoners had seen him at Gohardasht prison at the time of the massacre.

In response to the prosecution’s question about his brother being executed at Gohardasht but his belongings being in Evin, Mir Mohammadi answered that this was a common practice.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

 

Day 30: Where did you dump them?

18 October 2021: The Stockholm District Court heard the plaintiff Sedighe Haji Mohsen whose brother was executed during the 1988 massacre at Gohardasht prison. She now lives in Canada and appeared in front of the court in person.

She said her brother was arrested in May 1982 as a sympathizer of the Worker’s Way organization. Haji Mohsen added that even though the judicial authorities had sentenced her brother to 15 years in prison, he was executed on 27^th August 1988, before the end of his sentence.

According to the plaintiff, since Hossein was a teacher, the Ministry of Education issued his dismissal order after his arrest. Haji Mohsen added that the dismissal letter stated the accusations, the time of arrest and the 15-year prison sentence.

Sedigheh Haji Mohsen said Hamid Noury must say where the trucks carrying the bodies of their loved ones went. The plaintiff and other family members have claimed that Noury is aware of where the bodies are buried and are anticipating his revelation of the location. Several court witnesses have so far talked about the refrigerator trucks in the yard of Gohardasht at the time of the 1988 massacre, which were allegedly taking the bodies of executed prisoners to be buried.

In part of her testimony, the plaintiff referred to the suspension of prison visits in August 1988. She said that her brother was executed on 26^th of September 1988, when the massacre of leftist prisoners started. Haji Mohsen stated that in November 1988, the authorities told her father to go to the Islamic Revolution Committee’s headquarters on Zanjan Street in Tehran. There, the authorities informed their father of the death and told him he could not hold a funeral ceremony and then provided him with two bags of Hossein’s belongings.

Sedigheh Haji Mohsen also provided evidence to the court, including a copy of Hossein’s birth certificate, death certificate, graduation certificate and three letters from Hossein to his family.

The plaintiff said that two years after Hossein’s execution, Evin prison authorities confiscated Hossein’s birth certificate and revoked it. She added that they then provided them with the death certificate.

Haji Mohsen referred to the trauma and impacts as a result of her brother’s execution. She stated that for a long time, she had though it was a nightmare. Haji Mohsen said her mother never believed his death. She added that the Islamic Republic authorities did not let them mourn or even told them of Hossein’s place of burial.

The plaintiff stated that she and her family believed Hossein’s body might have been buried in a mass grave in Khavaran. She further referred to the detentions and repeated harassment of the victims’ family members for gathering at Khavaran after the massacre.

In response to the prosecutor’s question regarding Mehdi Aslani’s book, the plaintiff said that the photo published as his brother in the book is incorrect, but all other information and letters are true.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

 

Day 31: ‘The mourning does not end when there is no body’

19 October 2021: The first part of today’s session was spent hearing the plaintiff, Vida Rostam Alipour, who lives in Sweden. She is the wife of Majid Ivani, who was executed during the 1988 massacre at Gohardasht prison.

According to the plaintiff, Majid Ivani was an English Language student arrested in 1986 as a sympathizer of the Organization of Iranian People’s Fedai Guerrillas (Minority). She said that until several months after Majid’s arrest, no one knew of his whereabouts. Rostam Alipour stated that even though the judicial authorities had sentenced her husband to 15 years in prison, he was executed on 31st August 1988, before his sentence ended.

The plaintiff’s lawyer said that Vida’s brother, Parviz Rostam Alipour, was also executed in 1988, but his place of execution is still unknown.

Vida Rostam Alipour said that after the suspension of prison visits in August 1988, the authorities informed her and Majid’s mothers of the execution. She added that the authorities provided them with some of Majid and Parviz’s belongings and told them that they are not allowed to hold a funeral ceremony and that the bodies would not be delivered to them.

Rostam Alipour referred to the trauma and impacts of her husband’s execution. She stated that this tragedy always follows her. She added that they killed her brother and her husband and instead, they gave her a watch and a ring in return.

The plaintiff said because the authorities buried all the executed leftist prisoners in mass graves in Khavaran, she thinks that her husband and brother are also buried there.

The defendant’s lawyer tried to challenge the plaintiff by referring to the discrepancies he had found in the details of the statement made to the Iran Tribunal and today’s testimony.

Following Rostam Alipour’s statement, Laleh Bazargan, a plaintiff, gave her testimony to the court. She stated that her brother, Bijan Bazargan, was executed in 1988 at Gohardasht prison.

Bazargan said that her brother, who was a student at Tehran University, was arrested in 1981 as a sympathizer of the Union of Iranian Communists. She stated that two years after the arrest, Bijan was sentenced to ten years in prison but was executed in 1988, having served about six and a half years.

The plaintiff said that she and her family were not aware of his whereabouts until four months after the arrest. She emphasized that the Islamic Republic is a fascist regime and has never been accountable for its actions.

Hamid Noury interrupted the witness and shouted, “You cannot insult the Islamic Republic. You and your ancestors are the fascists.”

In response, the judge asked Laleh Bazargan and the defendant to not use such language and said everyone who speaks must respect the court.

Laleh Bazargan stated that on 4^th of December 1988, the Islamic Republic authorities asked her father to go to Gohardasht. At Gohardasht, the prison officials told her father that his son was an apostate and that they had killed him. The prison officials gave a bag to her father that did not belong to Bijan.

In response to the prosecutor’s question of how the plaintiff is sure whether her brother was executed at Goharadasht prison, she said in addition to the Bijans’ letters from Gohardasht, his fellow prisoners have also confirmed this.

“Thousands of prisoners were buried in mass graves in Khavaran, but no one was allowed to plant any flowers there. Instead, the Islamic Republic destroyed Khavaran with bulldozers. The mourning does not end when you do not have the body. The remains of the prisoners must be found and buried respectfully so that we can find some peace.” Bazargan said at the end of the session.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch: Parts one, two.

 

Day 32: Noury took me before the Death Committee

20 October 2021: The Stockholm District Court heard the plaintiff and witness Ali Zolfaghari, who was arrested in 1981 due to his political activities as a sympathizer of the PMOI.

He was a high school student at the time of arrest and spent 12 years in Rasht, Goghardasht, and Evin Prison. He was at Gohardasht Prison at the time of the 1988 massacre.

The witness, who now lives in Switzerland, stated that he was transferred from Rasht Prison to Gohardasht in 1983 with 40 other prisoners, including 20 women. According to him, all the women were executed at Gohardasht.

The witness then talked about the events leading up to the massacre; on 28^th August 1988, he said they took the TV out of the ward. He added that a guard was carrying many ropes in a wheelbarrow, accompanying the defendant and Mohammad Moghiseh. Zolfaghari stated that he saw the lights of the truck in the prison yard at night and heard thudding noises that sounded like bodies of executed prisoners being thrown into the truck.

Zolfaghari said he was taken to the Death Committee by Noury himself. He explained his encounter with the Death Committee. He stated that he saw Ebrahim Raisi, Hossein Ali Nayyeri, Esmail Shoushtari, and Mostafa Pour Mohammadi there. Ali Zolfaghari then explained how he wrote a letter of repentance to save himself from execution.

Zolfaghari added that when he was taken into the Death Corridor to write the repentance letter, Naserian was so happy and told him they were executing PMOI members that day.

Zolfaghari said he also encountered Hamid Noury in the Death Corridor reading the names of the prisoners and taking them to the amphitheater for execution.

The witness said he saw the defendant in the Death Corridor the second time he was taken to the Death Committee. According to the witness, Hamid Abbasi (Noury) kicked Behrouz Shahi Magham, a prisoner singing an anthem, and told him he would soon be executed.

Responding to the prosecutor’s question about Hamid Noury’s identification, Ali Zolfaghari confirmed that he is sure the defendant is the same person as Hamid Abbasi from Gohardasht prison, only older. The witness stated that he saw the defendant at least four times without blindfolds.

The defendant’s lawyer tried to challenge the witness by referring to the discrepancies they had found in the details of the statement made to the police and today’s testimony.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

 

Day 33: Your lunch is solitary confinement

33^rd session: The session was spent hearing the testimony of Reza Falahi, a survivor of the prisons massacre. He was arrested while in the military in 1981 for being a member of the Mojahedin (PMOI) and was taken to Evin prison where he was charged with 10 years imprisonment. He was transferred to Gohardasht in 1986.

He said on July 22^nd, 1988, around ten prisoners were taken from their ward and beaten with steel rods used in construction. They were again taken the next day and did not return.

Mr Falahi became aware of the executions as their ward was the closest to the prison amphitheatre and they could hear suspicious conversations between the guards and Naserian. He heard about the entire prison staff being involved in the executions so that they could not testify against the perpetrators later, as they would be complicit. He also talked about the women that were executed at Gohardasht – he believes they had been transferred from other prisons.

The witness then spoke about his encounter with the defendant, who took him to a dirty solitary confinement cell due to his protests about the lack of lunch. He then elaborated that he saw Noury on at least 3 occasions, taking prisoners to the amphitheatre which was the place of execution. The witness also said that on occasions when Naserian was not present, Noury took his place and was his deputy of sorts.

The witness then explained how he was taken to the Death Corridor on August 3^rd 1988. He described there being two rows of prisoners on either side of the corridor, all facing the walls. On the same day, Naserian took him to the Death Committee. The witness said Noury was there and asked Naserian for slippers to give to him.

Mr Falahi spoke about the effects of a decade in Iran’s prisons in the 1980s on his mental health. He said that he had to seek professional help for years after his release and he still suffers from insomnia, 33 years after the fact.

That day, Mr Falahi agreed to the Committee’s terms and was spared execution. He was transferred to Evin prison 6 months later where he spent the remainder of his sentence.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

 

Day 57: This man flogged me himself

Tuesday, January 11^th, 2022 – The 57^th session of Hamid Noury’s trial began with the witness, Abolghasem (Ghasem) Soleimanpour, who was first arrested in Mazandaran in March 1981 due to his support of the Communist Unity Party. He successfully escaped prison but was arrested again in October 1981 and was sentenced to 10 years for criticising Khomeini.

He spent two years in Evin Prison where he first learnt of the regime’s plans to execute political prisoners. He was subsequently transferred to Gohardasht prison in 1986 where he first met the defendant.

The witness testified to having met Noury, both with and without a blindfold. He elaborated that Noury looks the same as he did in the 80s, only older.

He said he was beaten by the defendant severely on an occasion where he was caught growing greens for Nowruz and crafting a red piece of fabric with a star on it (this was a symbol communists used then). He was then taken to isolation by the defendant.

The witness explained that he was taken to the Death Corridor several times and the Death Committee once, by the defendant. Those who sat on the Committee were Eshraghi, Ali Razini and Pourmohammadi. He was given 60 lashes and Noury participated in carrying out that sentence.

According to the witness, the last time he saw Noury was on May 22^nd, 1989, after the mass executions had ended.

The defence then raised the question of why the testimony given by the witness is not exact to his statement to the Swedish police. Mr Soleimanpour answered that they can’t be the exact same as each other.

The next session will commence on Wednesday, January 12^th, 2022.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

 

Day 58: Say you are Muslim and you’ll be spared

Wednesday, January 12^th, 2022 – The 58^th session of Hamid Noury’s trial in Stockholm began with the testimony of witness  Azarnoush Hemati Elizei, a political prisoner during the 1980s. He was arrested in December 1980 due to his support of the Organization of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class (Peykar) near Tehran. He spent eight years in various prisons, including Evin, Ghezelhesar and Gohardasht. Two years after his release in December 1988, he escaped to Turkey illegally and now lives in Sweden.

In the spring of 1988, the witness was transferred to Gohardasht prison, where he said he and the other prisoners were introduced to Naserian and Noury.  He said at that time, they were no longer able to have visitations and TV and newspapers were prohibited. The witness said the prisoners learnt of the executions through morse code in July 1988.

The witness then told the court that on the second day of the executions, he was taken to the Death Corridor and subsequently, in front of the Death Committee where he was asked whether he is Muslim. He iterated, ‘I am Muslim,’ and was spared execution because of this. He testified to having seen another prisoner, Hossein Taleghani, answer no to the question and was thus executed. He also explained that before this, the prisoners were given questionnaires that asked them whether they are Muslim and if they pray.

Azarnoush Hemati Elizei said that on the day he was taken to the Death Committee, both Noury and Naserian were sitting at the end of the hall, observing. He said he recognised Noury’s eyes and voice, even this many years later.

The next session will be held on Wednesday, January 19^th.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

 

Day 59: Our families were sat in the room where hundreds of us had died

January 20^th, 2022 – The session was spent hearing witness Roum Afsham. He was involved in Iran’s communist union since before the Islamic revolution. He was arrested in 1981 in Tehran. He was sentenced to 12 years in 1983 after a sham trial where he did not have access to a lawyer, and was transferred to ward 209 of Evin Prison where he underwent ‘medieval torture’.

It was in 1986 that he was transferred from Ghezelhesar prison to Gohardasht. The witness said Noury was the prosecutor at the time. In the winter of 1987, he was taken to the defendant and Lashkari for talking to inmates from a different ward where he was beaten by Lashkari and taken to a dark room by Noury.

The witness spoke about what he saw of the treatment of female prisoners at Gohardasht. He said the women were repeatedly beaten for taking part in organised exercise on Noury, Lashkari and Naserian’s orders.

He also spoke about how Noury and Lashkari were always present when Naserian asked him about prayer and his religious beliefs.

After the executions of those involved with the Mojahedin had ended, the witness said that Noury had turned to the other prisoners and said, “Anti-revolutionaries, tomorrow is your last day.” The prisoners were beaten by him, Lashkari and Naserian for an hour after. The witness said that Noury would always tell the guards to beat the anti-revolutionaries harder.

He said he, along with around a hundred other prisoners, were spared execution and taken to the amphitheatre for visitation with their families. When the families found out that they were sat where prisoners had been executed, there were protests and outcries. The witness said that Noury stepped onto the stage and spoke through the microphone, telling the families to be quite because if not, their children would be executed.

During his testimony, the witness turned to the defendant and said, “Mr Hamid Abbasi [Noury], the microphone was in your hands. Did you or did you not threaten people, our families?” The witness was told to refrain from asking direct questions of the defendant.

An important part of Me Afsham’s testimony was about the torture of female prisoners at Ghezelhesar. He said they were forced to stay silent and not make a sound for 24 hours while trapped in a coffin made by the warden, Haj Davoud. He explained that there were 100-150 of such coffins.

Mr Roumi Afsham was transferred to Evin prison in February 1989 and released three months later.

The next session of Noury’s trial will be on January 21^st.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch: Parts one, two.

 

Day 60: Saved by a phonecall

Witness Mehdi Aslani Tabrizipour testified today at the 60^th session of Hamid Noury’s trial. He is a survivor of the 1988 prisons massacre. He was arrested on January 29^th, 1985 due to belonging to the Organisation of Iranian People’s Fadaian. He was sentenced to six years in prison the year after and subsequently transferred from Ghzelhesar Prison to Gohardasht in 1986 where he stayed until the end of the mass executions.

The witness testified to having met the defendant on August 23^rd, 1988. He said Noury was the prison’s prosecutor and Naserian’s right hand. Aslani also told the court that Noury was in charge of designing questions to ask the prisoners before they were taken for execution.

He confirmed the presence of refrigerator trucks, especially in the first three days of the executions, namely August 6^th to 9^th. He said ward 20 got the brunt of the executions – half of the prisoners in the ward were executed on the first day.

Mr Aslani talked about how the executions of the members and supporters of the PMOI (Mojahedin) ended on August 15^th and those of other leftists started two weeks after. He, himself, was taken to the Death Committee on August 28^th and 31^st. On the latter date, Raisi, Iran’s current president, attended the committee. The committee asked Mr Aslani whether he is a Muslim or a Marxist, which he believes was the answer between life or death for many people. He also pointed to Noury’s phone ringing, and the hearing being called off after as a reason why he is alive today.

Mr Aslani was transferred to Evin prison in February 1989.

The defence was again adamant that there were inconsistencies in the witness’s statement in court and the one he gave to the police.

 

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

 

Day 61: I saw buses that were full come back empty

Amirhoushang Etiabi, witness and survivor of the 1988 massacre, testified in Hamid Noury’s trial today. Mr Etiabi was arrested in 1984 for being active in the Tudeh Party of Iran. He was taken to Evin prison where he was beaten with cables until he had to be taken to the prison infirmary due to blood in urine and heavy bruising. He was tortured in the same manner when he was discharged a week later.

A year later, he attended a sham trial and was given a prison sentence of ten years. In early 1986, he was transferred to Ghezelhesar and then to Gohardasht prison a few months later.

The witness had previously submitted evidence to the judges, namely a list of 96 leftists from ward 20 who had been executed, his interview with the Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre in 2009 and a calendar of the happenings in 1988, compiled by prisoners in secret and through code and later completed.

It must be noted that the witness did not testify to recognising Noury. He said there were more important figures involved in the executions, such as Naserian and Lashkari, who were almost entirely responsible for them at Gohardasht.

He testified to having seen bodies being taken into refrigerator trucks from the amphitheatre from between the blinds in the prison shower. He said there was also an open truck. In the calendar, it was shown that the transfer of bodies occurred 2-3 times a day and lasted for 12 days.

The same calendar indicated that the Death Committee had their first hearing on July 30^th, 1988, and the first executions of the PMOI began that day. This lasted until August 16^th. He testifies to having seen minibuses being filled with prisoners and driven to the amphitheatre, and them coming back empty.

The witness says the executions of the leftists began on August 27^th. Lashkari and the guards had ordered the prisoners out of the cells.

Mr Etiabi met the Death Committee twice. He was whipped for having missed the morning and late night prayers. In the second hearing, he denounced the Tudeh Party and announced that he accepts Islam, and was thus saved from execution.

The witness was taken to Evin prison in February 1989 and was released shortly after.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

 

Day 62: They whipped me until I submitted to prayer

Witness Mansour Kamalzadeh testified in the 62^nd session of Hamid Noury’s trial. The witness was arrested in September 1983 for his activities with the Organization of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class (Peykar). He was taken to Evin Prison and then transferred to Ghezelhesar where he was sentenced to 8 years in prison. In the spring of 1986, he was taken back to Evin and eventually to Gohardasht in May 1988.

He was spared execution because he declared himself a non-praying Muslim, as was arranged with others in ward 5. The witness was then whipped when he refused to pray. He was then forced to agree

His first meeting with Noury was at a group prayer he was forced to go to. He said after the prayer, Naserian would always give a speech that threatened the prisoners while Noury stood in a corner and jeered at the prisoners. He also said that Noury, Naserian and Lashkari visited their ward a few times. He confirmed that the defendant is the same person as Hamid Abbasi (Noury) as he was known at the time.

Mr Kamalzadeh was released in the spring of 1989.

He said he met Noury one more time when he was trying to have his wife released from Evin prison in March 1990. Noury introduced himself as Hamid Abbasi and accepted the bail money for the witness’s wife to be on furlough for two weeks. His wife never returned to Evin.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

Day 63: Old neighbours, new enemies

Rahman Darkeshideh testified in front of the Stockholm criminal court at the 63^rd session of Hamid Noury’s trial.

Mr Darkeshideh was arrested on November 22^nd, 1980, at the age of 16, on account of his activities with the Organisation of Iranian People’s Fedaian. Though he was sentenced to three years, he was imprisoned for eight years and two months. He was transferred to Gohardasht prison in July 1988, a month prior to the executions.

The witness testified to having known the defendant personally before being admitted to prison; Noury lived on the same street as the witness and was his brother’s friend. Mr Darkeshideh was friends with the defendant’s brother. He said he heard from a neighbour that Noury had taken up a job at Evin prison in 1980, the same year that the defendant claims he was undertaking military duty.

The witness met Noury in Evin in 1986 when his real name was revealed. He said Noury went by ‘Hamid Abbasi’ at the time. Noury had ordered the witness’s father and two brothers to come to the prison where they were arrested. His father and one of his brothers were released but his other brother spent three months in solitary confinement.

The witness had had articles published in several newspapers prior to the defendant’s arrest, imploring that Hamid Abbasi is the same person as Hamid Noury.

The defendant himself admitted to having known Mr Darkeshideh and was friends with his brother, but that he knew nothing of his arrest.

The witness met with the Death Committee on August 23rd, 1988. He told them that he is not a Muslim and does not pray. Nasserian admitted to the witness that they had killed his friends and if he refused to pray, they would kill him too. So he agreed to praying by the end of the day. He was taken for interrogation but not with Noury, as they knew each other.

Rahman Darkeshideh paid bail in February 1989 and was released from Gohardasht.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

Day 64: I saw the prisoners executed in the yard

After a 2-week break due to Covid-19, Hamid Noury’s trial reconvened with the testimonies of two survivors, Jafar Yaghoubi and Amir Houshang Etiabi.

Jafar Yaghoubi returned to Iran during the 1979 revolution after having obtained his PhD in Genetics from University of California at Davis. He was arrested in Autumn of 1984 and spent time in Evin and Ghezelhesar. He was tortured and interrogated, after which he was given 15 years in prison. In November 1986, he was transferred to Gohardasht prison.

He said at the time of the executions, Naserian was the prosecutor, Lashkari was the head of security and Noury, known as Abbasi, was also in charge of the prison. He saw Noury in 1987 and the end of 1988 without a blindfold. He also acknowledges Abbasi in his two memoirs, both published before the defendant’s arrest in 2011 and 2015.

Dr Yaghoubi witnessed preparations for the executions in the months prior to the massacre. He saw them put metal bars in front of doors and install a metal door between the main corridor. He also said they gave leftist prisoners warm food but stopped any outside time and banned any media, including TVs and radios.

He saw prisoners being taken to the prison yard in groups of 20 in the early days of the executions. He said executions took place in the yard in the first few days before they were moved to the amphitheatre.

He was taken to the Death Corridor alongside 40 others on September 1^st, 1988. After some questions about religion, he was taken to the Death Committee where he lied about being Muslim. After 30 lashes, he agreed to pray and was taken to pray alongside 200 others on the same day. They all pretended to do so. He said he believes between 200-250 leftist prisoners survived the executions.

In February 1989, Dr Yaghoubi was transferred to Evin and released some months later. He returned to the US two years later with his family.

The second witness to testify was Amir Houshang Etiabi who had already testified on the 61^st session. Read about his first testimony here.

He provided the court with several documents, including a list of 96 people killed from ward 20, his interview with the Centre for Human Rights Documentation in 2009, a drawn map of Gohardasht and a calendar from 1988 with the events of each day that was compiled by prisoners through code.

The defence asked Mr Etiabi about the dates he had told the court in the first session. The witness confirmed the dates. He was then asked to confirm whether he had not recognised Noury from his photos as he had claimed in the first session. He did so.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

Day 65: No political prisoners here

This session was spent questioning yesterday’s witness, Jaafar Yaaghoubi, a survivor of the 1988 prisons massacre. He was arrested in Autumn 1984 and given 15 years imprisonment for being a member of leftist group Feda’ian, opposition to the Islamic Republic and having a pseudonym.

In the session today, the witness identified Noury as having been the same person he met at Gohardasht, only older and thinner. He said the defendant has the same mannerisms as he had in 1988.

The witness claimed that Noury had been upset that Dr Yaaghoubi managed to escape execution, as he believed that was his right.

The defence again used the same strategy they have adopted and pointed to differences between the witness’s statement to the police and his statement in court, particularly focusing on dates. They also claimed that his testimony had been influenced by memoirs of other prisoners at Gohardasht, such as Iraj Mesdaghi, who is a witness himself.

The prosecutor asked Dr Yaaghoubi why he had been released ten years before the end of his sentence. The witness replied that due to the regime having killed most of their political prisoners, they wanted to release those remaining so that they could claim that they have no political prisoners.

Read about yesterday’s testimony here.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

 

Day 66: It’s Not Over Yet

The 66^th session of Hamid Noury’s trial commenced with the testimony of Seyyed Jalal Addin Saeidi, better known as Jalal Saeidi. He had been politically active since before the Revolution and was arrested in February 1984 for being a member of the Workers’ Way and opposing the Islamic Republic. He was sentenced to death first but then given 15 years imprisonment instead.

He was transferred to Gohardasht prison in 1986 and put in ward 5 with 100 others. This ward and ward 6 were the only ones that survived the executions in 1988, but they were aware of them.

The witness found out about the massacre through morse code from other wards.

Mr Saeidi confirmed that he was never taken to the Death Committee and recalls filling out a form and declaring himself a non-praying Muslim. He was made to pray after being whipped.

He saw Hamid ‘Abbasi’ (Noury) once in February 1989 when he took three prisoners for interview. He and others were made to follow them in the snow with only slippers on.

He also said that Lashkari gave him a form to fill out in 1988 where he was asked whether he believed in the regime and Islam, and if he prays. He said no to all. After the executions, in September 1988, he met the defendant face to face. He told the witness that if he had not missed his form, he would have been dead. “But it’s not over yet,” he said.

He confirmed Hamid Noury’s identity in court and said he is sure the defendant is the same person who went by Hamid Abbasi at Gohardasht.

After the executions, Mr Saeidi was transferred to Evin prison where he learnt of the deaths of his friends and colleagues. There, he was told about the Death Committee.

In February 1989, he and a group of prisoners were let out of the prison and freed. The witness believes this was staged propaganda to mislead the public about the massacre.

At a certain point in the witness’s testimony, he referred to Khomeini as a murderer. This incited a massive reaction from the defendant who shouted, “Your parents are murderers! You can’t insult someone like that.”

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

 

Day 67: Only 180 left to pick up the pieces

Mohammad Eezadjou testified at the 67^th session of Hamid Noury’s trial. He was arrested in  December 1982 on account of his activities with the Organisation of Iranian People’s Fedaian.

He was then sent to ward 209 of Evin Prison where he was severely tortured. He was later sentenced to 8 years imprisonment and transferred to Gohardasht in 1987.

He learnt of the executions from Hamid Nasiri through morse. Mr Nasiri was killed that same day on August 31^st. The witness was taken to the Death Committee but refused to answer their questions and whipped 40 times. Naserian told him that the Imam [Khomeini] had said that no apostates were to stay alive – they would whip him until he died or gave in.

The witness said he thinks around 180 prisoners survived the executions. Those who remained had to pack the bags of those who had died.

The witness said he saw the defendant a few times among other prison staff. During the massacre, he saw Noury taking prisoners to the amphitheatre, the place of execution. The defence pushed the notion that the witness’s statement in court regarding Noury’s role was different to his statement to the police. He insisted that the witness had said that Noury carried out Lashkari’s orders and was only a regular employee. The witness said that Noury did care about Lashkaris’ orders but it doesn’t mean he was the defendant’s supervisor. At a later point, the witness claimed that the defence was putting words in his mouth.

On February 23^rd, 1988, along with 900 other prisoners, Mr Eezadjou was taken to Evin prison and released 2 weeks after.

He spoke about his memoir, where he lists 4,799 prisoners who were executed in 1988 across Iran. He claims that there were at least two witnesses for every name listed. His two main sources are first-hand witnesses and activists who were fighting to have political prisoners released at the time.  He also indicated that 400-500 prisoners were killed at Gohardasht. His memoir is one of the primary documents in Noury’s indictment.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

 

Day 68: You will never learn

The 68^th session of Hamid Noury’s trial heard witness Hamid Ashtari, who was arrested in April 1981 on charges of spreading PMOI newspapers and gathering people. He was given ten years imprisonment and transferred to Gohardasht in 1987. He claims to have met the defendant on several occasions.

One of such encounters was when Noury took the prisoners in to the ‘gas chamber’. This was a method of torture where prisoners would line up and be beaten by guards along a long corridor, and then thrown into a room with a large number of prisoners. The room had no ventilation – all doors and windows were closed and towels were placed around them to keep the air in. Prisoners would sweat profusely and faint.

The witness mostly interacted with Noury before and after the executions. He said the defendant had a very arrogant demeanour which got exacerbated after the massacre. He recalled that once, when joking around with other prisoners, he said something that was mildly offensive to Islamic leaders. Noury happened to be passing by and said, “you will never learn.”

Mr Ashtari was transferred to Jahad Ward in the summer of 1988. They were the only ward which had access to media and the news of the executions became common knowledge among prisoners. He saw a couple of prisoners being taken by Noury from another ward but he does not know of their fates.

He, himself, was taken to Lashkari and denounced the PMOI, accepted the Islamic Republic regime and gave an interview. He was released in June 1989.

He met the defendant the same year in Tehran on the streets and offered to give him a lift. Noury got into the car but when asked where he was going, he got out and left.

The defence claimed that Mr Ashtari’s testimony could not be used because he hadn’t seen all 18 photos attached to the complaint, and thus could not identify the defendant. The witness reiterated that he knows the defendant as Hamid Abbasi.

Again, the defence claimed that there were discrepancies between the statement to the police and the statement given in court – the witness had used the name ‘Akbari’ instead of ‘Abbasi’. Mr Ashtari told the court that he did say Abbasi earlier in the statement and later called to correct his mistake.

At the end of the session, both the defence and the defendant requested to extend the witness’s cross examination as they claimed that they had not had enough time. The judge first refused this on account of the defence and the prosecution having been given the same amount of time. He then reviewed his decision after further protestation and allowed an extra hour in the next session.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

 

Day 77: “The claim that mass executions were legal is a total lie”: Human rights lawyer testifies against Iranian perpetrator involved in massacring prisoners in 1988

Human rights lawyer and Justice for Iran Executive Director shared her knowledge of the 1988 massacre and Iranian judicial system in a criminal court in Stockholm trying Hamid Noury, the alleged perpetrator, who was arrested on his arrival in Sweden in 2019 and charged with murder and war crime.

In the 77^th court session, Shadi Sadr, who led the research group for Painscapes – the map of mass graves in Iran- and contributed to Amnesty International’s report on the same topic, was made to testify as an expert witness. She was examined by the prosecutors, the plaintiff’s and defendant’s lawyers on her work on the 1988 massacre, as well as the legality of the massacre within Iranian law.

Sadr explained that Noury, who worked under Naserian (Mohammad Moghiseh), the Acting Director, at Gohardasht prison and Deputy Revolutionary Prosecutor, had been mentioned by survivors who had been interviewed by Justice for Iran years prior to Noury’s arrest. The interviewees specified that ‘Abbasi’ (Noury) was involved in calling out prisoners to be taken to the execution hall and ordering guards to torture prisoners, among other violations.

“Visitations were completely cut off. Families could not find out anything about the fates of their children for months. Thousands of prisoners had the status of enforced disappeared for months. The burial of prisoners was done in secret, mostly at night and in mass graves with no markers. In most cases, the bodies were never returned to the families.” Sadr said when asked about secretive manner in which these executions were carried out.

Gohardasht prison, where Noury was employed, was one of dozens who adopted these hidden tactics that led to the deaths and disappearances of thousands during two months of a single summer.

Evidence from both Sadr’s research and testimonies from other sessions of the trial show that Noury was indeed involved in the day-to-day, systematic torture of prisoners, including arbitrary hitting and trapping prisoners in rooms with very little air to mimic a gas chamber.

Sadr emphasised that the massacre had been systematic and nationwide – this was not an isolated incident, and the orders came from Khomeini, the former supreme leader, as evidenced in the fatwa recorded in Montazeri’s memoir. Hussein-Ali Montazeri was the Deputy Supreme Leader at the time of the massacre.

Additionally, she said that the fatwa (order) issued after the ceasefire of the Iran-Iraq war and the defeat of the PMOI in Iraq only included the order to purge PMOI prisoners even though leftist prisoners were also victims. She pointed to the possibility that there may have been no second fatwa when it came to executing leftists, due to their status as apostates in the Islamic Penal Code – there would have been ground to execute them even without a higher order.

Sadr was questioned on the claim that the execution of political prisoners was given legality through a judicial procedure and supreme court review. She denied this claim, calling it a total lie and saying the executions that took place were outside the Islamic Republic criminal procedure and were illegal, even within Islamic Republic laws at the time which violated the principles of fair trial and rights to defend.

The trial is expected to continue through April and will be the first official proceeding against any perpetrator of the 1988 massacre in Iran.

The 1988 massacre in Iran was a roundup and execution of the opposition to the Islamic Republic regime, specifically the Mojahedin (PMOI) and leftist groups. Although executions did occur in the years prior, thousands are estimated to have been killed in the summer of 1988 and buried in unmarked mass graves. The alleged perpetrators of this crime enjoy impunity to this day.

Justice for Iran’s own research depicted on Painscapes and its joint report with Amnesty International, Criminal Coverup, shed a light on these crimes. They reveal the locations of over 70 mass graves, their destruction and what happened in 23 prisons across Iran in 1988. Most of the evidence gathered by these organisations come from interviews with over 100 survivors and families of survivors, and pictures and videos taken of mass graves by the families.

The hearing sessions were recorded and broadcast live by Iran Watch.

Other useful sources

The Indictment in Swedish

Iran: First Trial for 1988 Massacres Opens in Stockholm, by Lena Bjurström, for Justiceinfo.net

Iranian Crimes, Swedish Justice with Aida Samani and Gissou Nia (by Asymmetrical Haircuts)