(ANSA) - STOCKHOLM, 14 JUL - Sweden has sentenced Hamid Nouri, a former Iranian officer to life imprisonment, accused of having participated in the killing of thousands of Iranian prisoners in 1988. This was announced by the Stockholm court.
61-year-old Noury was convicted of a "serious crime against international law" and "murder," according to a notice from the Stockholm District Court which issued the sentence of life imprisonment.
For the prosecution, Noury was an assistant to the public ministry in a prison near Tehran at the time of the events.
"The investigation showed that the accused, jointly and in collusion with others, participated in the carrying out of the criminal acts," the court said.
"Under a pseudonym and in the role of assistant to the deputy prosecutor, [Noury] rescued the prisoners, took them to the commission and escorted them to the place of execution."
The judicial proceeding, ongoing since August 2021, has severely tested relations between Sweden and Iran, raising concerns over reprisals against Western prisoners held by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Two Swedish-Iranian citizens are in fact on death row.
In the nine months of hearings, Noury rejected the testimony of the former inmates, claiming that he was on leave during the period in question and claiming that he worked in another prison.
Noury ;; denounced the allegations as a plot by the exiled opposition group Mujahedin of the Iranian people (Mek) to discredit the regime in Tehran.
(HANDLE).
