Watchdog

The families of the victims and survivors of the 1988 mass executions in Iran expressed relief after a court in Sweden convicted ex-official Hamid Nouri of murder and other charges in connection with the executions.

Iraj Mesdaghi, a former political prisoner who spent more than 10 years in Iranian prisons between 1981 and 1991, told Radio Farda, "Our voice will be heard more every day," he said. "Nothing can stop our movement for justice, and every day more people will realize what happened in Iran."

Hamid Ashtari, a former political prisoner who together with Iraj Mesdaghi filed the first complaint against Nouri, said in an interview with Radio Farda that "this verdict is a condemnation of the Islamic republic, and this verdict will be a document for future courts."

Nouri, 61, was convicted of committing a "serious crime against international law" and "murder" and sentenced to life in prison, the Stockholm district court said on July 14. Iran condemned the decision, saying it was politically motivated. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said it had "no legal validity."

Esmat Vatanparast, who lost 11 family members in the executions, said after the sentence was announced that President Ibrahim Raisi, who was a chief of Iran's judiciary at the time of the executions and Nouri’s boss, should also be tried.

"I slept many nights with sadness, but today I am happy," Vatanparast added.

Nouri was arrested at a Stockholm airport in 2019 and was charged with war crimes for the mass execution and torture of political prisoners at the Gohardasht prison in Karaj in 1988.

The killings initially targeted members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), a political-militant organization that advocated the overthrow of Iran's clerical regime, but eventually encompassed all left-wing opponents of the regime, including communists, Trotskyists, Marxist-Leninists, and others.

Amnesty International estimated that at least 5,000 people were executed on Khomeini's orders, saying in a 2018 report that "the real number could be higher." Iran has never acknowledged the killings.

Sweden's principle of universal jurisdiction allows its courts to try a person on serious charges such as murder or war crimes regardless of where the alleged offenses took place.

Nouri is the only person so far to be tried in the mass executions. He has denied the charges.

With writing and reporting by Ardeshir Tayebi

Britain has expressed shock over the death of a British aid worker while in the custody of Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine and summoned the Russian ambassador to demand an explanation.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss responded on July 15 to reports that British citizen Paul Urey, who was captured by forces fighting against pro-Kyiv troops in Ukraine, died "due to illness and stress" while in detention.

"I am shocked to hear reports of the death of British aid worker Paul Urey while in the custody of a Russian proxy in Ukraine," she said in a statement on Twitter. "Russia must bear the full responsibility for this."

She said Urey was captured while trying to help Ukrainians "in the face of the unprovoked Russian invasion."

A representative of a separatist group in Donetsk announced Urey's death earlier on July 15.

"He died on July 10," the representative, Darya Morozova, said on Telegram. The 45-year-old died "due to illness and stress," she added.

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Morozova also said Urey suffered from diabetes.

Urey was detained in April at a checkpoint near Zaporizhzhya along with another British man. They had been operating on their own in the war zone, helping to evacuate civilians.

The Russia-backed fighters described Urey as a "professional" soldier and accused him of "mercenary activities."

Dominik Byrne, co-founder of the charity group Presidium Network, said the Russia-backed separatists in the Donetsk region knew Urey needed a regular supply of insulin to treat his diabetes.

“It’s obvious that his welfare was not looked after,” Byrne said.

The Russian authorities and the separatists denied the Red Cross access to him and the aid group was never able to verify his actual conditions in prison.

Byrne said the Red Cross and other agencies along with the British government tried in vain to secure Urey’s release.

“We are formally calling for his captors to release his body and help us repatriate it back to the U.K. for his family,” he said. “We really feel that is of ultimate importance and the least they can do at this stage.”

Urey's distraught daughters told Sky News in May that they were "preparing for the worst."

His mother, Linda Urey, said she was "absolutely devastated" to learn of her son's death.

In a message since deleted from Facebook, she accused the separatist leaders of being murders.

She indicated that she had informed her son's captors that he was diabetic.

Based on reporting by AFP, The Telegraph, and The Mirror