Hamid Noury was arrested in 2019 at Arlanda. Last summer, the Stockholm District Court convicted him of gross violations of international law, for involvement in the mass executions of political prisoners in Iran. The indictment focuses on his involvement in torture, summary trials and the murders of 110 prisoners in the summer of 1988, when a total of thousands were killed. Noury himself denies the accusations.
History is a deep wound for many. Sara Shahmohammadi, who belongs to the People’s Mujaheddin organization, was herself imprisoned in Iran in the 80s, and was subjected to both torture and solitary confinement. Although she is not a plaintiff, she sees the Court of Appeal’s verdict today as a first step towards justice.
– It is very important that Hamid Noury gets a life sentence again. But it is not enough, because Hamid Noury was one of those who participated in the massacre and executed prisoners, and it is important that the others involved are also punished, says Sara Shahmohammadi.
Iran wants to exchange prisoners
According to several observers, Iran has detained the Swedish EU official Johan Floderus with the aim of obtaining a prisoner exchange with Noury. Floderus was arrested on a trip to Iran last spring and last weekend was charged with espionage.
The diplomat Michael Sahlin believes that great values would be at stake if Iran were to avenge a guilty appeal court verdict today, for example by a death sentence against Floderus. Since there is no clear scope in the law for an exchange, he describes the situation as a dilemma.
– If it is the case that Sweden judges that the only chance to save Johan Floderus is through some form of exchange – if that is the only possibility – then this situation is brought to a head. Then I wonder, just like everyone else, how it would go, says Michael Sahlin.