The Islamic Regime of Iran executed Bijan on 29 November 1981 (8 Azar 1360), Manijeh and her husband Masoud on the same day in February or March 1983 (Bahman or Esfand 1361), in Evin Prison.

At the time of the execution of her son Bijan, and later her daughter Manijeh and her son-in-law Masoud, Mother Hodaei protested in front of Evin Prison, chanting slogans condemning their executions. While she was protesting the execution of Manijeh and Masoud, the suppressive forces of the IRI arrested her and took her to Evin Prison. They wrapped her in a blanket and slammed her repeatedly against the ground so violently that she suffered from back pain for the rest of her life. As she was being taken in this condition to solitary confinement, she recited a long poem. After three months she was released, and she later recited the same poem, as a justice-seeking mother, at March 8 (Women International Day) ceremonies in Karaj, and subsequently at Khavaran gatherings and memorials for her children held at her home. Mother Hodaei had a high spirit of struggle and solidarity, and in every gathering she attended, she would expose the crimes of the Islamic Regime of Iran.

Mother Hodaei and her husband were active in connection with the Tudeh Party until the coup of 19 August 1953 (28 Mordad 1332). She continued her activities for many years after the coup with the Democratic Organization of Women, and during the Vietnam War she knitted garments to help the people of Vietnam.

The Iran Tribunal Foundation honors the memory of Mother Hodaei (Mother Farrokh Mo‘tamedi) and extends its condolences for her loss to her children, the Mo‘tamedi and Hodaei families, the larger Khavaran family, and Iran’s justice-seeking movement.

Iran Tribunal Foundation
Thursday, 11 December 2025 (20 Azar 1404 Iranian Calendar)

The serial deaths of these members of the Death Commissions of Gohardasht, Evin, and Mashhad prisons will never erase the reality of the massacre of political prisoners in the summer of 1988. Thus, the elimination of these criminals cannot stop families of the executed political prisoners to seeking truth, justice, and accountability.

The Islamic Regime of Iran cannot absolve itself of this horrific crime with any tricks or eliminations. As stated in Article 169 of the Iran Tribunal’s verdict:

“These violations were designed, encouraged, and carried out (or caused to be carried out) by a central authority. Khomeini’s fatwa clearly shows that the decision to annihilate political prisoners was made at the highest levels of the Islamic Republic of Iran and was implemented with their full knowledge and participation.”
Thus, the families’ quest for justice is not limited to members of the Death Commissions alone; the entire Islamic Republic of Iran must be held accountable for these crimes.

Moreover, as stated in Article 165 of the Iran Tribunal’s verdict:

“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s control over the agents, prosecutors, judges, prison officials, interrogators, and other individuals involved in committing these crimes is undeniable. Therefore, the Tribunal holds that, under international law, the Islamic Republic of Iran can be held responsible for crimes against humanity, committed at the direction of government officials and within the framework of state institutions and prisons.”

Iran Tribunal Foundation

Saturday, 5 April 2025 / 16 Farvardin 1404

The case had four witnesses, whom during the mass execution of 1988 of political prisoners, were taken to a so called “Commission of Death” in Evin and Goherdasht prisons. Neyyer was the head of this commission and act as of sharia judge.

Berlin prosecutor sent the case to Hanover prosecutor immediately for investigation. Hanover prosecutor assigned police to investigate the case. Police reported back the results of their investigation to the Hanover prosecutor’s office. In the report, police say Hussein Ali Nayeri has not been admitted to the Hanover International Neuroscience Hospital, where he was told to be hospitalised. And it is very unlikely that he has even visited Germany. German lawyers informed us about the investigation on July 19^th.

According to prisoners who survived the massacre of summer of 1988, Neyyeri as of the head of this commission, issued hundreds of death sentences in Evin and Gohardasht prisons. Neyyeri has committed a crime against humanity according to international law and must be tried for this crime.

Iran Tribunal Foundation

July 23, 2023

Mother Hebe de Bonafini was one of the founders of the Association of Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in May 1977, two years after the military seized power and began a brutal crackdown on suspected leftists.  

She became president two years later and led the more radical of two factions of the organization until her death.

Mother Hebe is an international symbol of the fight for human dignity and search for truth and justice for the 30,000 disappeared during the last military dictatorship in Argentina.

Following the death of Mother Hebe de Bonafini, Iran Tribunal Foundation sent a message of condolences to the Plaza Mayo Mothers’ Association, paid tribute to Mother Hebe, her memory and her tireless fight for justice, who put light in the midst of the dark night of the military dictatorship.  

The Iran Tribunal Foundation has been in regular contact with the Plaza Mayo Mothers’ Association, mainly with Mother Hobe, for the past 20 years. Among other messages, she sent two video massages to two events in London and in Stockholm that the Foundation held in 2017 and 2018, in support of Iran Mothers of Khavaran.

Mothers of Khavaran refers to the mothers whose sons and daughters were forcibly abducted from their homes, workplaces or in the streets in 1980s, tortured to death or executed in groups and buried in unknown mass graves in secret. It is estimated that over 30 000 political prisoners, men and women were executed or killed under the torture by the Iranian Islamic Regime from 1981 to 1988.

Khavaran is unmarked irregular cemetery southwest of Tehran, the capital of Iran, one of the sites where some of mothers of Khavaran discovered a number of mass graves.

The Stockholm District Court found that Hamid Noury had taken part in mass execution of political prisoners in the prison of Gohardasht in 1988 during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war. The court announced the sentence On 14 July 2022.

The 61-year-old was found guilty of participating “in the executions of hundreds of political prisoners in Iran in the summer of 1988.” He was also convicted over the murders of other left-wing sympathisers who were deemed to have renounced their Islamic faith.

It is the first time that an Iranian official has been tried and convicted for the mass execution of opponents in 1980s.

At the time, Noury had been working as a deputy prosecutor at the Gohardasht prison near the Iranian city of Karaj. He was arrested in November 2019 when he arrived at Stockholm airport.

Life sentence in Sweden is the highest sentence that can be given to a prisoner. The life sentence in Sweden does not have a time limit, but the defendant can request a final sentence after a period of ten years or so. According to the severity and weakness of the crime, the court decides on this matter. If the court decides to give him/her a definitive imprisonment sentence, the final sentence that the court may issue will be 15 to 18 years according to Swedish law. However, in the Swedish judicial history, in a few cases, the court has not accepted the prisoner’s request to finalize his/her sentence. There are few prisoners in Swedish prisons who have committed serious crimes, received life sentences, and are still in prison after thirty years. If a final sentence is given, the prisoner will be released after serving two-thirds of his/her sentence. Generally, a prisoner in Sweden is released after serving two-thirds of his/her sentence, regardless of the type of crime and his sentence.

The court has described Hamid Noury’s crime as serious. If the Swedish government does make a deal with the IRI to extradite him, it is possible that his sentence will not be finalized and he will remain in prison.

If the court decides to finalize Noury’s sentence, for instance after ten years and sentences him to fifteen or eighteen years in prison, including the ten years he has spent in prison, he will be released after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

If they give him a definitive sentence of eighteen years after ten years, he will be released from prison after twelve years considering the ten years he was in prison;    He will be released from prison two years after his sentence. If he is eventually released, he will be expelled from Sweden.

Hundreds of Iranian dissidents including family members of the victims and former political prisoners who survived the mass executions and had gathered in front of the Stockholm District court at the time the Noury’s sentence was announced, celebrated and cheered the sentence.

Here is a scene of their joy upon hearing Hamid Noury’s sentence.

The proceedings marked the first time an Iranian official has gone on trial for the purge.

Hamid Noury, 61, faces charges including war crimes and murder for his role in the killing of hundreds of political prisoners in Gohardasht prison in Karaj.

5000 political prisoners were executed across Iran in the summer of 1988, ordered by the Islamic regime supreme leader Khomeini.

Prosecutors called for a life sentence for Noury, who has been on trial in Stockholm district court since August 2021.

On Wednesday, the final day of the trial, the judge set the date for the verdict on July 14.

“I hope these hands will be cleared … with the help of God,” Noury told the court, his palms raised to the sky and holding a Koran. “Friends, I love you, I’m not angry at you”, he told those present in the courtroom, his remarks in Farsi translated into Swedish by a court-appointed interpreter.

The defence had contested Sweden’s principle of universal jurisdiction — which allows it to try the case regardless of where the offences took place — and called into question the plaintiffs’ testimony.

“There is a lot of uncertainty about the way in which the name Hamid Noury arose in the testimonies”, Daniel Marcus, one of Noury’s two lawyers, told the court, calling the evidence “insufficient”.

According to the prosecution and survivors who testified against him, Noury was assistant to the deputy prosecutor of Gohardasht prison near Tehran at the time of the events.

He allegedly handed down death sentences, brought prisoners to the execution chamber and helped prosecutors gather prisoners’ names. Noury has argued that he was on leave during the period in question, and said he worked in another prison, not in Gohardasht.

Noury was arrested at a Stockholm airport in November 2019 after a number of Iranian former political prisoners filed police complaints against him.

The trial took eight months. It ended on Wednesday 4 May 2022.

The case against 60-year-old Hamid Noury, who was arrested in Sweden in November 2019, concerns his part in the mass killings of prisoners towards the end of the 1980-1988 war between Iran and Iraq.

Noury was arrested upon his arrival at the airport in Stockholm, with Swedish media reporting at the time that he was visiting relatives.

In the summer of 1988, Islamic Republic of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini “issued an order to execute all prisoners held in Iranian prisons who sympathised with and were loyal in their convictions to the Mujahedin,” according to Swedish prosecutors.

Noury held the position of “assistant to the deputy prosecutor at the Gohardasht prison,” on the outskirts of Karaj, west of Tehran, the statement said.

“The accused is suspected of participating, together with other perpetrators, in these mass executions and, as such, intentionally taking the lives of a large number of prisoners, who sympathised with the Mujahedin and, additionally, of subjecting prisoners to severe suffering which is deemed torture and inhuman treatment,” it said.

In the charge sheet, seen by AFP, Prosecutor Kristina Lindhoff Carleson said that these actions constituted a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Facing him in the trial is a group of more than 30 plaintiffs and 30 witnesses, made up of former prisoners who witnessed the atrocities and relatives of victims.

Following the mass executions, and after a ceasefire between Islamic Republic of Iran and Iraqi government, the Iranian leadership also decided that other political prisoners “who sympathised with various left wing groups and were regarded as apostates by the Iranian leadership, should be executed.”

Prosecutors said Noury, in his role at the prison, was also complicit in the killings that followed..

“These acts are classified as murder according to the Swedish Penal Code since they are not considered to be related to an armed conflict,” the prosecutor statement said..

The Prosecutor had issued the warrant of arrest of Noury on 8th November 2019 for being accused of 3 counts of international crimes; namely;

genocide; crimes against humanity and war crimes. Following that Noury was arrested the day after on 9th November at 1 pm at Arlanda airport in Stockholm.

Since his arrest till this date, Noury’s detention  period has been extended every four weeks. The prosecutor has requested these extensions to complete his investigations in this case. It is noteworthy that throughout his incarceration, Noury has been kept in solitary confinement without being in touch with the outside world. Noury’s application for bail has been denied on the grounds that he may jump the bail or destroy the evidence against him.

Few months after the arrest of Noury, the prosecutor following consultation with international law experts, decided to limit the charges to two counts of genocide and murder. The charges for crimes against humanity and war crimes were dropped. Crimes against humanity, although always recognised under customary international law, but was added to the international law following the adoption of the Rome Convention(for the establishment of the International Criminal Court) in 2002, and thus did not cover the massacre of political prisoners in the summer of 1988. Also “War Crimes “ could not be applicable as the prisoners were not war prisoners and had not participated in a war.  The prisoners were in prison many years before the conflict between Mojahedeen and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

During the hearing for considering the application for the extension of the period of detention of Noury in November 2020, the presiding judge requested the prosecutor to expedite his investigations and set a trial date as soon as possible. On the basis of the prosecutor’s response, the hearing of Noury’s case will most probably commence in February 2021.

Recently the prosecutor has requested the Swedish Government to declare any reservation that the Government may have in relation to the trial of Noury.  The Government has responded that they have no reservations and the trial may proceed with the Government’s consent. Coordination with the Government, in view of the separation of powers rules, is just a formality, allowing the Government to raise its concerns, if any, in view of its diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic Of Iran.

Noury has consistently denied allegations against him and has objected to the extensions of his detention and limitations imposed upon him.

Iran Watch

28th December 2020

The Islamic Republic of Iran has resumed the assassination of its opponents abroad for some time, and by planning and setting a trap, it has been able to lure a number of its opponents to Turkey and Iraq, and with the help of the governments of these two countries, kidnap them and take them to Iran. Among them are Bayb Farjullah Chaab, nicknamed Habib Asio, one of the leaders of the Ahwaz National Resistance, Ruhollah Zam, the founder and host of the Amadnews Telegram channel, and Jamshid Sharmahd, the director of the Royal Society. In addition to the above kidnappings, Arsalan Rezaei has also recently been assassinated by the intelligence service of the Islamic Republic of Iran in abroad. Arsalan Rezaei, the administrator of the Instagram page and the Telegram channel (Khorafatkadeh), was assassinated on Friday, December 11, 2020, at his residence in Turkey.

In accordance with International Law and the judgment of Iran International People’s Tribunal, considers Iran Watch, the abduction, torture, execution and killing of dissidents and protesters in Iran, as an example of crimes against humanity and will registered them in the criminal record of the Islamic Republic.

On 8 December, the spokesman for  Islamic Republic judiciary announced that the Supreme Court had upheld Rouhollah Zam’s death sentence. IRI rushed to execute Rouhollah Zam four days later, in what we believe was a reprehensible bid to avoid an international campaign to save his life.  

Background

Rouhollah Zam was sentenced to death by Branch 15 of the Islamic “Revolutionary” Court in Tehran in June 2020 following a grossly unfair trial for “spreading corruption on earth” in connection with his news channel, AmadNews, that he ran on the messaging app Telegram. The channel, which had more than a million followers, shared videos of protests and information about the involvement of various authority figures in corruption. The IRI accused him of using his media work for “espionage” for France and Israel, “cooperation with the hostile state of the United States”, “crimes against national security” and “spreading propaganda against the system.”

Iran Watch opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to kill the prisoner. The death penalty is a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

The report has 4 episodes. Each episode deals with a city and in each of them an incident.

Shahriar

The fact that the Islamic Republic official has said that the bullets did not come from their weapons, proves that it was coming from their weapons.

Marivan

It is shown that in one part of the city, people were standing peacefully and then the Basij (the government irregular military forces) started firing at them.

Sadra

It is proven that people are shot from a Basij center and at least four people are killed/injured. With the exact name and address of the Basij center.

Mahshahr

The exact location of the massacre is shown and it is proved that weapons belong to military forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

All using videos posted by people.