Foreign
AN Iranian man has been sentenced to life in prison in Sweden for involvement in the mass executions of political prisoners in his home country more than 30 years ago.
The Stockholm District Court issued the verdict on Thursday, siding with the prosecution who argued that the defendant had participated with others in the killings, which were classified as serious crimes against international law as well as murder.
The 61-year-old man denied the accusations, however, dozens of witnesses implicated him in the atrocities.
The verdict was expected to exacerbate tensions between Stockholm and Tehran.
Swedish prosecutors said the executions came near the end of the Iran-Iraq War, when Iran was attacked several times by an armed branch of the People’s Mujahedin.
Meanwhile, the supreme leader of Iran at the time, Ayatollah Khomeini, then issued an order to execute all prisoners held in Iranian prisons who sympathised with the mujahedin.
The killings took place in July and August of 1988 in the Gohardasht prison.
The court spoke of a large number of people being executed
The defendant, known as Hamid N, had been an assistant to the deputy prosecutor at the prison and had helped to lead the prisoners to the execution site.
He, was however, arrested in late 2019 after landing at Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport. (dpa/NAN)
KN
Tags: Ayatollah Khomeini Hamid N Stockholm District Court
