On Saturday, Hamid Noury, one of the executioners of the 1988 massacre who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Sweden, was returned to Iran in a disgraceful prisoner-swap deal with the hostage-taking regime of the mullahs. This allows him to continue his crimes against the people and freedom seekers of Iran along with other executioners of this regime.
This action is a betrayal of human rights and an encouragement of crimes against humanity, terrorism, and hostage-taking. It assures the criminal regime ruling Iran that if its terrorists and executioners like Asadollah Asadi and Hamid Noury are caught by justice in other countries, it can retrieve them through hostage-taking leverage.
This dirty deal and shameful collusion immediately sparked a wave of anger and protest among freedom-loving Iranians, especially in Sweden. Hamid Noury was involved in one of the most heinous crimes against humanity. In the summer of 1988, regime supreme leader Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa to purge all prisons of dissidents, especially members of the PMOI. In the matter of a few months, more than 30,000 prisoners were executed, most of whom were members and supporters of the PMOI.
The regime hoped to wipe out the PMOI by carrying out the 1988 massacre. Ironically, PMOI members and supporters who testified in the Noury trial played a key role in bringing attention to the 1988 massacre and sentencing Hamid Noury to life in prison.
Following the disgraceful deal for the release of Noury, Iranians organized protest demonstrations in Stockholm and several European countries, condemning the release of Hamid Noury by the Swedish government and its policy of appeasement towards the regime of mass execution and world record-holder in executions.
At the same time, rebellious youths in Iran reacted fiercely to the disgraceful deal by setting fire to regime’s crime and repression centers in Tehran, Karaj, Shiraz, and Qazvin.
The protests of freedom-loving Iranians immediately resonated around the world, bringing further disgrace to both parties of this disgraceful deal. Reuters reported: ” The National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition of groups opposed to Iran’s Islamic Republic government, said it appeared Sweden had yielded to blackmail and hostage-taking tactics in a move that would encourage Tehran.”
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the NCRI, warned that “Surrendering to the criminal mullahs and hostage-takers emboldens them to further turn Swedish territory into a roaming ground for their terrorist activities.”
All prisoners, torture victims, plaintiffs, families of massacre victims, and the entire Iranian nation vehemently condemn the disgraceful release of Hamid Noury. They neither forgive nor forget.
Surrendering to the criminal mullahs and hostage-takers emboldens them to further… pic.twitter.com/nTWlizQWFh— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) June 15, 2024
Lawyer Kenneth Lewis, who represented a dozen plaintiffs in the Noury case in Sweden, told Reuters his clients were not consulted and were “appalled and devastated” over Noury’s release.
“This is an affront to the entire justice system and everyone who has participated in these trials,” he told Reuters.
Since Noury was sentenced to the maximum punishment under Swedish law in a two-and-a-half-year-long trial based on solid evidence and after hearing the testimonies of dozens of political prisoners, the Swedish government’s action is also a blatant disrespect to the judiciary, judges, and prosecutors of Sweden.
Giving in to the hostage-taking and anti-human mullahs encourages them to further use Swedish soil as a playground for their terrorist activities.
Rewarding the murderers and hostage-takers ruling Iran comes while the United Nations fact-finding commission, elected with the vote of Sweden among others, has asked countries around the world to prosecute and hold accountable the perpetrators of crimes against humanity in Iran within their judicial systems. Therefore, the release of executioner Hamid Noury also constitutes a breach of Sweden’s international obligations.
The Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet warned that handing over Noury to Iran’s regime weakens Swedish law.
Agence France-Presse wrote: ” The freeing of Noury is ‘shameful and unjustifiable’ and ‘an affront to the Swedish judiciary’, said the National Council of Resistance of Iran.”
As stated in the NCRI Committee of Judiciary statement on 19 December 2023, from August 2021 to November 2023, freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the Resistance held 121 demonstrations, rallies, protest actions, and press conferences outside both courts in Stockholm. Many of the rallies and demonstrations occurred under adverse weather conditions, even with temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius.
Mrs. Rajavi said: “All prisoners, torture victims, plaintiffs, families of massacre victims, and the entire Iranian nation vehemently condemn the disgraceful release of Hamid Noury. They neither forgive nor forget.”