Why Hamid Noury was arrested in Sweden
Hamid Noury was assistant to the deputy prosecutor of Gohardasht (Rajaei Shahr) prison in Karaj near Tehran. He was involved in the killing of hundreds of political prisoners in this prison. Alongside with Davood Lashkari, chief security of the prison and Naserian (Mohammad Moghaiseh), deputy prosecutor of the prison, prepared lists of the names of prisoners that were to be given to “Death Commission.” All they tried was all of prisoners to be executed. After being sentenced to death by “Death Commission”, they prepared the prisoners for execution and took them to the Gallows. Members of the “Death Commission” in Tehran were determined by Rohullah Khomeini the then leader who served as the first Supreme Leader of the Islamic Regime of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989.
In a religious “FATVA” he ordered the execution of thousands of political prisoners who had survived mass executions of the first years of 1980s. The executions took place in at least 32 prisons across the country whiteout due legal process. The exact number is unknow but some human rights organisation and specially the International People´s of Iran Tribunal (https://irantribunal.com/mass-executions/history-of-mass-executions-in-1980s/) have recorded over 4000 political prisoners who were killed in a period of two months in summer 1988. The members of the “Death Commission” in Tehran were: Mostafa Pour Mohammadi, Hassanali Nayeri, Esmail Shushtari, Morteza Eshraghi and Ebrahim Reisi, former president of the Islamic Regime of Iran, who was killed in a helicopter crash in 2024.
Hamid Noury was arrested on 9th November 2019 at Arlanda airport, charged with violation of the International Law and being involved in the massacre of hundreds of political prisoners in Gohardasht Prison in the Summer of 1988, based on the complaint of three former political prisoners who survived the massacre in Gohardasht prison.
Noury was convicted of war crimes and murder for his role in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Gohardasht prison.
The Prosecutor had issued the warrant of arrest of Noury on 8th November 2019 for being accused of 3 counts of international crimes; namely; genocide; crimes against humanity and war crimes. Following that Noury was arrested the day after on 9th November at 1 pm at Arlanda airport in Stockholm.
Few months after the arrest of Noury, the prosecutor following consultation with international law experts, decided to limit the charges to two counts of war crimes and murder.