Amnesty International (AI) has issued a statement welcoming Sweden’s arrest of a former Iranian official accused of taking part in extra-judicial killings in prisons in Iran in 1988.
In a public statement November 14, AI also praises the governments of Belgium and Lichtenstein for questioning Iran for the first time about the fate of the victims of 1988 prison killings and the whereabouts of their remains. AI calls these developments important and calls on the international community for “a long overdue UN investigation.”
Rights defenders and activists estimate that up to 5,000 political prisoners belonging to Mojahedin-e Khalq organization (Mek) and leftist groups were killed in Iranian prisons, while serving their sentences.
On November 9, Sweden arrested Hamid Nouri, an Iranian man who had been an assistant prosecutor in 1988, participating in the killings. He will stay in prison pending more investigations and the preparation of his final indictment.
“These developments are major contributions to the fight against impunity for the past and ongoing crimes against humanity relating to the 1988 prison massacres, including murder, enforced disappearance, persecution, torture and other inhumane acts. They are also a testament to the long struggle for truth and justice by survivors and victims’ families, who have been languishing in a cruel limbo for over three decades, not knowing where, why and how their loved ones were killed and where their bodies are buried”, AI said in its statement.
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