The Swedish Supreme Court upheld on Wednesday the guilty verdict and life sentence of Hamid Nouri, a former Iranian official convicted for his involvement in a mass execution of political prisoners in Iran in 1988. Nouri was previously arrested in 2019 at a Swedish airport on charges of grave violations of international law and 24 counts of murder. Under Swedish law, Swedish courts can try foreign citizens for crimes against international law that are committed abroad.

Usually, the Supreme Court only grants appeals if their judgment could establish an important precedence and provide guidance on how similar cases should be assessed. In a brief order, the Supreme Court stated it would not hear Nouri’s appeal. Instead, the court upheld the Svea Court of Appeal’s December 2023 ruling, which upheld Nouri’s life sentence.

Nouri has been imprisoned in Sweden since his 2019 arrest, sparking concern from the Iranian government. In December 2023, an Iranian spokesperson stated the country would seek Nouri’s release, calling the verdict against Nouri “illegal” and “cruel.”

Tensions between Sweden and Iran recently flared again when an Iranian court commenced proceedings against Johan Floderus, a Swedish EU employee arrested in 2022. Iran charged Floderus with with spying for Israel and “corruption on earth,” a crime that carries the death penalty. There is some speculation that Floderus’s arrest may have been an effort by Iranian authorities to pressure Sweden into releasing Nouri.

At the heart of Nouri’s case in Sweden is a mass execution of political prisoners in Iran back in 1988. An Amnesty International report from 2018 alleged between July and September of 1988, thousands of political dissidents and activists were killed in Iranian prisons with their bodies left in unmarked graves, some of which have yet to be discovered. Multiple officials alleged to be involved in the killings are still in power including current Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.