Wednesday, November 10, 2021 — The first session of the trial of the executioner Hamid Noury, began in the city of Durrës, Albania, with the presence of the plaintiffs and witnesses, members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), residents of Ashraf 3.
Today’s court hearing is dedicated to the testimony of former political prisoner, MEK member Mohammad Zand as the plaintiff in the case.
The trial of Hamid Noury, one of the executioners of the 1988 massacre, will take place on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, November 10-12, and next week, Monday through Thursday, November 15-18, 2021, in Durrës Court, Albania.
In Wednesday’s session, Mohammad Reza Zand, a former political prisoner who spent near 11 years in Iran’s prisons, testified on the atrocities that took place in the regime’s horrific prisons. During Iran’s 1988 massacre, Zand was in Gohardasht prison.
“On July 28, 1988, I was in on the third floor of the prison. Prison authorities stopped bringing in newspapers,” Zand said in his testimony. “That night, after the prisoner count, Davood Lashgari [one of the torturers] came to the ward and read out three names: Gholamhossein Eskandari, Seyyed Hossein Sobhani, and Mehran Hoveida.”
At the time, Zand and several other prisoners objected to the prison authorities’ decision to stop giving newspapers to the inmates.
“Lashgari took us out of the cell and into the hallway. He blindfolded us and asked us what our charge was,” Zand said. “As soon as we said we are supporters of the MEK, the guards started to beat us. A prison guard whose name was Davood and was trained in martial arts kicked me in the foot with his boots and broke my toe. They continued beating us for an hour.”
Lashgari asked the prisoners the same question again, and the prisoners repeated that they were supporters of the MEK. “Lashgari said, ‘Go back to your cells. We’ll come for you on Thursday,’” Zand said.
On July 30, many prisoners were executed in Gohardasht. According to Zand’s testimony, many were brought in from other cities, including Mashhad & Kermanshah. Those who remain steadfast in their support for the MEK were immediately hanged.
Zand was taken to the death commission, where Hossein-Ali Nayyeri, one of the members of the commission asked him whether he wanted to be pardoned by then supreme leader Ruhollah Khomeini.
“I said my sentence will be over soon and why did you execute my brother? He would have been released in three years,” Zand said.
Zand was then taken to another hall, where he could hear the voices of Lashgari, Nouri, and Mohammad Moghiseh, a notorious torturer who was known as “Nasserian” in prison.
Lashgari read out several names and took the prisoners to the amphitheater, the place that later became known as the “Death Hall,” where prisoners were executed in groups.
At the same time, Iranians, MEK supporters and relatives of the 1988 massacre martyrs held a rally in front of the Stockholm Courthouse on November 10, 2021, at the same time as the trial of the executioner of Hamid Noury in Albania.
Read more: https://english.mojahedin.org/i/hamid-nouri-trial-mohammad-zand-testimony-1988-massacre-2021110
