Tehran condemns Swedish murder verdict against Iran ex-official

• A Swedish court has sentenced Hamid Noury to life in prison for crimes committed during a dissident purge in 1988.
• The case related to the killing of at least 5,000 prisoners across Iran.
• Sweden and Iran have strained relations since the trial began in August 2021.

Tehran dismissed as “political” a Swedish court verdict sentencing a former Iranian prison official to life for crimes committed during a 1988 purge of dissidents.

In the first trial related to the mass executions, Hamid Noury, 61, was found guilty in Sweden of a “serious crime against international law” and “murder.”

Tehran “strongly condemns this political statement, which consists of making unfounded and fabricated accusations against Iran and its judicial system, along with the life sentence against Hamid Noury”, Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

The case related to the killing of at least 5,000 prisoners across Iran, to avenge attacks carried out by exiled opposition group the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) at the end of the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88.

The proceedings, which have been running since August 2021, have strained relations between Sweden and Iran.

“Iran holds Sweden responsible for the damage caused to bilateral relations”, the ministry statement added.

According to the court, Noury was an assistant prosecutor in a prison near Tehran at the time of the events.

However, Noury claimed that he was on leave during the time in question, that he worked in another prison, and that the accusations were a MEK plot to discredit Iran.

Noury’s lawyer, Thomas Soderqvist, has stated that he will appeal.

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