Hamid Noury, a prison guard promoted to “assistant public prosecutor” in political prisons who served as an interrogator, henchman, and executioner in some of Iran’s most notorious and terrifying prisons, inadvertently verified many truths in his trial for crimes against humanity during three days of testimony in a Stockholm courtroom that began on November 23, 2021.

Since August, about 20 former political prisoners have testified about his direct role in the 1988 massacre, and hundreds more have attended rallies and conferences timed to coincide with each trial session.

Although Noury has stated that he is not guilty, the subtext of his words in court might easily be seen as a tacit admission of guilt. The former officer at Gohardasht Jail tried everything he could to deny that the prison existed, that he was on duty at the time in issue, and that executions were carried out on the scale claimed. In light of the overwhelming evidence, none of these allegations can be regarded seriously.

 

 Noury said, on his return to Iran he will be jailed

Noury’s “testimony,” which he delivered without remorse, was largely comprised of malicious attacks against the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran). Noury rehashed a litany of bogus accusations leveled against the MEK over the years by a slew of paid-for operatives of the dictatorship for which he serves.

The similarities between Noury’s lies and these assertions reinforce that the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and authoritarian propaganda organization are the sources of all these ludicrous claims and lies.

On his return to Iran, Hamid Noury claimed that if he even mentions the PMOI by their official name rather than the pejorative name the regime prefers, he will be jailed. He emphasised that the judiciary and its chief do not play games, and that despite serving the regime for ten years in prison, he would still be in danger.

 

 30,000 political prisoners were executed in three months

He was unintentionally testifying to the MEK’s underlying support in Iranian society, as well as the paranoia and dread it causes among Iran’s murderous rulers.

On Ruhollah Khomeini’s order to “annihilate the enemies of Islam immediately,” around 30,000 political prisoners were executed over the course of about three months. Although at least one witness to the massacre made a statement during the Noury trial that claimed the true death toll might be substantially higher, that number is not seriously contested.

Sweden is the only country that has responded to those calls in any substantial sense thus far. However, the Noury trial should pave the way for long-overdue investigations and international prosecutions of higher-ranking massacre perpetrators. Ebrahim Raisi, the regime’s president, is one of the most prime suspects of such a prosecution.

When Noury presented his own argument this week, he brought Raisi into the discussion. He was most likely motivated by the fact that several witnesses mentioned Raisi’s involvement as a member of the Tehran death committee, and Noury was described as carrying out the commission’s orders. Raisi has never disputed his involvement in the massacre, but he has openly endorsed Khomeini’s order that MEK members be executed and tortured inhumanely.

 

 

 

MEK Iran (follow us on Twitter and Facebook)

and follow Maryam Rajavi’s on her site    Twitter & Facebook

and follow NCRI  (Twitter & Facebook)  and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTube