Swedish court upholds life sentence in Iran executions case
Reuters, December 19, 2023
STOCKHOLM, Dec 19 (Reuters) – A Swedish appeals court on Tuesday upheld a guilty verdict and life sentence given to a former Iranian official convicted last year for his part in a mass execution of political prisoners in Iran in 1988.
In 2022, the Stockholm District Court ruling found Hamid Noury guilty of murder and serious crimes against international law, drawing strong criticism from Iran, which said the verdict was politically motivated.
The Appeal Court’s decision was greeted with cheers by several hundred protesters who had gathered outside the court, waving flags and chanting slogans calling for the end of the Iranian regime.
“It’s a great day, it’s a beautiful day and justice has prevailed,” Abdolreza Shafie, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an opposition umbrella group, told Reuters….
Amnesty International has put the number executed on government orders at around 5,000, saying in a 2018 report that “the real number could be higher”. Iran has never acknowledged the killings.
Under Swedish law, courts can try Swedish citizens and other nationals for crimes against international law committed abroad.
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