Hamid Noury has been in custody in Sweden for almost two years and is accused of having played a leading role in the killing of political prisoners executed on government orders at the Gohardasht prison in Karaj, Iran, in 1988.It is the first time anyone has been brought before a court to stand trial over the purge.
She then read out the names of 110 people whose executions Noury is accused of helping to orchestrate. The trial is likely to focus unwelcome attention on Iran's hardline President Ebrahim Raisi, who was inaugurated last week and who is under U.S. sanctions over a past that includes what Washington and activists say was his involvement as one of four judges who oversaw the 1988 killings.Raisi, when asked about the allegations, told reporters after his election in June that he had defended national security and human rights.