Iran executes Iranian-German dissident Jamshid Sharmahd over terror conviction
Germany warns of ‘serious consequences’ for Tehran’s ‘inhumane regime’
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Iranian-German prisoner Jamshid Sharmahd, who was kidnapped in Dubai in 2020 by security forces, was executed in Iran.
He was put to death after being convicted on terror charges disputed by his family, the country's judiciary reported Monday.
Iran accused Sharmahd, who lived in Glendora, California, of planning a 2008 attack on a mosque that killed 14 people and wounded over 200 others, as well as plotting other assaults through the little-known Kingdom Assembly of Iran and its Tondar militant wing.
Iran also accused Sharmahd of “disclosing classified information” on missile sites of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard during a television program in 2017.
“Without a doubt, the divine promise regarding the supporters of terrorism will be fulfilled, and this is a definite promise,” the judiciary said in announcing his execution.
His family disputed the allegations and had worked for years to see him freed. They could not be immediately reached for comment.
German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said the killing “shows once again what kind of inhumane regime rules in Tehran: a regime that uses death against its youth, its own population and foreign nationals”.
She expressed “heartfelt sympathy” for Sharmahd’s family, with whom she said the administration “have always been in close contact”.
Berlin also warned of “serious consequences” for Tehran’s “inhumane regime”.
Rights group Amnesty International said the proceedings against Sharmahd had been a “grossly unfair trial” because he had been denied access to an independent lawyer and “the right to defend himself.”
“The government-appointed lawyer said that without payment of $250,000 (£192,757) from the family, he would not defend Jamshid Sharmahd in court and would only 'sit there,'” Amnesty said in one report on his case.
However, Amnesty noted that Sharmahd ran a website for the Kingdom Assembly of Iran and its Tondar militant wing that included "claims of responsibility for explosions inside Iran,” though he repeatedly denied being involved in the attacks.
Sharmahd had been in Dubai in 2020, trying to travel to India for a business deal involving his software company. He was hoping to get a connecting flight despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic disrupting global travel at the time.
Sharmahd’s family received the last message from him on 28 July 2020. It’s unclear how the abduction happened.
But tracking data showed Sharmahd’s mobile phone traveled south from Dubai to the city of Al Ain on 29 July, crossing the border into Oman. On 30 July, tracking data showed the mobile phone traveled to the Omani port city of Sohar, where the signal stopped.
Two days later, Iran announced it had captured Sharmahd in a “complex operation.” The Intelligence Ministry published a photograph of him blindfolded.
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Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
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