Sweden opens trial of Iranian accused of role in 1988 mass murder

Swedish prosecutors accuse Hamid Noury of participating in the extrajudicial executions of political prisoners who were affiliated with an armed Iranian opposition group
This courtroom sketch shows Iranian defendant Hamid Noury (2ndL) sitting in the District Court of Stockholm with his Defence Attorney Daniel Marcus (3rdL) on the opening of his trial for "war crimes and murder", on Aug. 10, 2021.
This courtroom sketch shows Iranian defendant Hamid Noury (2ndL) sitting in the District Court of Stockholm with his defense attorney, Daniel Marcus (3rdL), on the opening of his trial for war crimes and murder on Aug. 10, 2021. - ANDERS HUMLEBO/TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP via Getty Images
Al Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East
Al-Monitor Staff

A landmark trial of a former Iranian official linked to the decades-old mass execution of dissidents began in Sweden on Tuesday in a war crimes case that could shed light on the new Iranian president’s own alleged role in the deadly purge. 

Prosecutors in Stockholm have accused Hamid Noury of "intentionally taking the life of a very large number of prisoners sympathetic to or belonging to the People's Mujahedin" in the summer of 1988.

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