Nearly 100 protestors gathered in front of the Stockholm court on Tuesday to protest against the Iran government.
According to the Swedish TT news agency, Tehran’s government holds a 60-year-old Iranian under suspicion of war crimes and murder.
Hamid Noury came under Sweden’s custody for almost two years now.
The prosecutors suspected Noury of playing a leading role in executing political prisoners on government orders in the Gohardasht prison in 1988.
Noury pleaded innocent when the prosecutors announced the charges last month.
This is the first time anyone was tried over the purge, the prosecutors said.
Prosecutor Kristina Carleson said, “Noury and others organized executions by selecting which prisoners should appear before a court-like commission.”
“This commission decided which prisoners be executed.” She added.
Carleson then read out the names of the 110 prisoners executed with Noury’s coordination.
According to Swedish law, courts can try non-citizens for crimes against International Law committed abroad.
This trial is most likely to draw attention to the hard-core President Ebrahim Raisi, who took office last week.
Washington and activists say Raisi has been under US sanctions in the past in light of his participation as one of four judges overseeing the 1988 killings.
When asked about the allegations after his elections in June, Raisi told reporters he had defended national security and human rights.
“If a judge, a prosecutor has defended the security of the people, he should be praised,” Raisi said.
“I am proud to have defended human rights in every position I have held so far,” he added.
According to Swedish officials, Noury was a prosecutor working in prison.
He is accused of being involved in the deaths of many prisoners belonging to the Iranian Mujahideen opposition group and other imprisoned dissidents.
Amnesty International’s report in 2018 set the number of executed prisoners at 5,000, adding that “the real number could be higher.”
Iran never admitted any killings.
The trial is due on April 2022.
