On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, November 10-12, 2021, three members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) testified in the court of Durrës, Albania.
They were in Gohardasht prison at the time of the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988 and faced the mullahs’ “death commissions”. Mohammad Zand, Majid Saheb Jam, and Asghar Mehdizadeh testified against the executioner Hamid Noury, one of the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre.
The following are the highlights of these testimonies:
“You’re the last one”—survivor of Iran’s 1988 massacre testifies in Hamid Noury trial
On Wednesday, November 10, the District Court of Durrës, Albania, convened for the thirty-fifth session of the trial of Hamid Noury, an Iranian prison official charged with torturing inmates in the Gohardasht prison (Karaj) and taking part in the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners. Noury was apprehended by Swedish authorities during a trip to the country. Noury is now standing trial in a court where many of his victims are giving harrowing testimonies of how he and other regime officials brutally tortured prisoners.
The previous sessions of the trial were held in the District Court of Stockholm. For Wednesday’s session, the court was transferred to Durrës, Albania, where members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) residing in Ashraf 3 will testify. In Wednesday’s session, Mohammad Zand, a former political prisoner who spent eleven years in Iran’s prisons, testified on the atrocities that took place in Iran’s brutal prisons. During the 1988 massacre, Zand was in Gohardasht prison.
“They celebrated the executions with sweets”—former political prisoner recalls Iran’s 1988 massacre
On November 11, the District Court of Durrës, Albania, convened for the thirty-sixth session of the trial of Hamid Noury, an Iranian prison official charged with torturing inmates in the Gohardasht prison (Karaj) and taking part in the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners. Noury was apprehended by Swedish authorities during a trip to the country in 2019. Noury is now standing trial in a court where many of his victims are giving harrowing testimonies of how he and other regime officials brutally tortured prisoners.
The previous sessions of the trial were held in the District Court of Stockholm. At the request of the prosecutors, the judge decided to transfer the trial’s location to Albania, where thousands of members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) reside. Members of the MEK were the principal target of the 1988 massacre, in which the regime executed more than 30,000 political prisoners.
During Thursday’s session, Majid Saheb Jam, a former political prisoner who spent seventeen years in Iran’s prisons, testified on the atrocities that took place in Iran’s brutal prisons. During the 1988 massacre, Saheb Jam was in Gohardasht prison, and he directly witnessed the role played by Noury and other regime officials in the 1988 massacre.
“The guards punched the hanging bodies”—horrific account of executions in Iran’s Gohardasht prison
On November 12, the District Court of Durrës, Albania, convened for the thirty-seventh session of the trial of Hamid Noury, an Iranian prison official charged with torturing inmates in the Gohardasht prison (Karaj) and taking part in the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners. Noury was apprehended by Swedish authorities during a trip to the country in 2019. Noury is now standing trial in a court where many of his victims are giving harrowing testimonies of how he and other regime officials brutally tortured and executed prisoners.
The first 34 sessions of the trial were held in the District Court of Stockholm. At the request of the prosecutors, the judge decided to transfer the trial’s location to Albania, where thousands of members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) reside. Members of the MEK were the principal target of the 1988 massacre, in which the regime executed more than 30,000 political prisoners.
During Friday’s session, Asghar Mehdizadeh, a former political, testified on the atrocities that took place in Iran’s brutal prisons. Mehdizadeh was arrested in 1982 for supporting the MEK and spent 13 years in various prisons, including Evin and Gohardasht. He is one of the direct witnesses of the 1988 massacre.
