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Iran
Supporters of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran protest outside Stockholm's district court on the first day of the trial of Hamid Nouri on Aug. 10, 2021. Photo: Stefan Jerrevang/AP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran demands the immediate release of an Iranian national facing charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sweden, the Iranian foreign minister told his Swedish counterpart on Tuesday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Tuesday spoke to his Swedish counterpart Anne Linde, during which both sides discussed the case of Iranian national Hamid Noury, Iranian state media reported.
The Iranian foreign minister “demanded the immediate release of Hamid Noury, an Iranian citizen, who is in custody on completely baseless charges of the hypocrite terrorist group.”
Iranian national Noury, 60, is on trial for “committing grave war crimes and murder in Iran during 1988,” Swedish prosecutors announced on July 27.
Noury had served as assistant to the deputy governor of Gohardasht prison in Karaj, near the Iranian capital of Tehran, when an estimated 5,000 prisoners were killed across the country, following an order from then Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
On July 26, 1988 thousands of fighters with the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian opposition group that sided with Saddam Hussein’s regime in the Iran-Iraq war, crossed the border into Iran with the support of Iraq’s air force for Operation Mersad, the last major offensive of the conflict before a United Nations ceasefire came into effect.
The Iranian government put prisons across the country on lockdown, and soon rumors spread around the country of prisoners killed and their bodies dumped into mass graves. Those killed had been jailed for their opposition to the Iranian regime, including followers of MEK.
The Swedish court wrapped up its proceedings in May, with a verdict expected on July 14, however the proceedings have been criticized by the Iranian government, and Iran has taken what many call as retaliatory measures against Sweden.
Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian national and an expert in emergency medicine, was arrested during an academic visit to Iran in October 2016 and subsequently sentenced to death the next year on spying charges.
Iran repeatedly claimed that Djalali spied for Mossad and said "his situation is absolutely clear … his sentence is definite and the judiciary has announced that.”
The spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary, Zabihollah Khodaian, had confirmed in May that Tehran will go ahead with the execution, ruling out the possibility of a prisoner exchange with Noury.
While Abdollahian met with Noury’s son on Tuesday, he raised concern over the Iranian national’s status in Swedish prison.
“He is not only kept in solitary confinement and does not have access to a doctor, but also to contact or meetings with the family are also severely restricted,” Iranian state media reported Abdollahian as discussing.
However, rights groups have raised concerns of dire treatment from Iran against foreign nationals.
Addressing the case of Djalali, Amnesty International said it “opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime; guilt, innocence or other characteristics of the individual; or the method used by the state to carry out the execution.”
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