The International Committee ‘In Search of Justice’ (ISJ) condemns unequivocally the release of Hamid Noury, the blood-soaked executioner involved in the notorious 1988 massacre of more than 30,000 political prisoners in Iran. Noury’s release is a shameful act of appeasement by the Swedish government, which simply rewards the Iranian regime’s policy of hostage-taking and blackmail and emboldens them to commit further crimes.
Noury was sentenced to life imprisonment in Sweden for crimes against humanity, following an extensive trial, when survivors of the 1988 massacre and families of some of the victims, gave evidence of Noury’s key role in the hanging of thousands of men and women, mostly supporters of the main democratic opposition movement the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK). He was detained in Stockholm in 2019 when visiting friends in Sweden.
His release, in a so-called ‘prisoner-swap’ in exchange for two innocent Swedish citizens taken hostage by the mullahs’ regime and jailed on trumped-up espionage charges, is a disgrace and completely undermines the EU’s system of justice. The ISJ also condemns the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security – Josep Borrell – who thanked Swedish and Omani authorities for mediating the deal with the Iranian regime. Borrell went even further by stating: “Other EU citizens are still arbitrarily detained in Iran. We’ll continue to work for their freedom together with EU member states”. Clearly Borrell is happy to capitulate to the hostage-taking and outrageous gangster tactics of the mullahs. He should resign forthwith.
It Is clear that Western governments have not understood that If you accept to be blackmailed once, you will be blackmailed for ever.