Tribune. For the first time since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1979), one of the Iranian officials implicated in crimes against humanity is detained pending a possible indictment, which could take place by January 8, 2020.
Arrested on November 9 in Stockholm by the Swedish authorities, currently in pre-trial detention, Hamid Noury, 58, had a position of responsibility in Gohardasht prison (the current prison of Rajai Shahr, in the north of Tehran) when, on orders of Ayatollah Khomeini, several thousand political prisoners were summarily and expeditiously executed during the "black summer" of 1988.
According to the evidence gathered by Iranian human rights activists, Hamid Noury was then acting as a prosecutor at Gohardasht prison and played an active role in these executions. Many former prisoners and families of the victims have filed complaints against him.
These executions are considered by several international human rights organizations and bodies as crimes against humanity
In 1988, almost 4,000 political prisoners, previously sentenced to prison terms, were executed between July and September by a commission known as the "commission of death" by virtue of a fatwa (religious edict ), issued by Ayatollah Khomeini. This commission in Tehran was chaired in particular by Ebrahim Raïssi, current head of the judicial system Iranian and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, former interior and intelligence minister. In Tehran, as in the rest of the country, where similar commissions have sat, officials have multiplied death sentences, during interrogations sometimes lasting only a few minutes.
Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a former dolphin of Khomeini, was removed from power in March 1989 for having publicly expressed his disapproval of these executions, which he described as "Most horrific crime committed under the Islamic Republic". He also called on the members of the commission: "It is you, gentlemen, who committed this crime and your names will go down in history as criminals. "
These executions are considered by several international human rights organizations and bodies as crimes against humanity. Hamid Noury's arrest is therefore an important step for international justice and the families in Iran who are awaiting justice for those responsible for these extrajudicial killings.
