The Iranian authorities executed, on Monday, October 28, the naturalized German Iranian dissident Jamshid Sharmahd, detained and then imprisoned in 2020, announced Mizan, the press agency of the judiciary. Jamshid Sharmahd, 69, was sentenced to death in 2023 by a Tehran court for his alleged role in an attack on a mosque in Shiraz, southern Iran, that left 14 dead in April 2008.
Germany, which later judged this sentence “absolutely unacceptable”had expelled two Iranian diplomats stationed in Berlin in retaliation. Iran had taken a similar measure against two German diplomats stationed in Tehran. Iran does not recognize dual nationality for its nationals.
Iran announced in August 2020 the arrest of the dissident, who was then residing in the United States, during a “complex operation”without specifying where, how or when he was detained. According to his family, he was kidnapped by Iranian security services while in transit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and then forcibly returned to Iran.
“Inhuman regime”
Born in Tehran, Jamshid Sharmahd emigrated to Germany during the 1980s and then lived in the United States starting in 2003. He was especially distinguished by his hostile statements against the Islamic Republic on Persian-language satellite channels.
Jamshid Sharmahd was also accused of leading the group Tondar (“thunder” in Persian), described as an organization “terrorist” for Iran. This group, also known as the Monarchist Association of Iran, claims to want to overthrow the Islamic Republic. Iranian justice also accused Jamshid Sharmahd of having established contacts with “FBI and CIA officers” and have “He tried to contact Israeli Mossad agents”.
“The murder of Jamshid Sharmahd shows once again what kind of inhumane regime reigns in Tehran: a regime that uses death against its youth, its own population and its foreign citizens”said Annalena Baerbock, German Foreign Minister, adding that Berlin had made this known on several occasions. “that the execution of a German citizen would have serious consequences”.
“Extrajudicial murder”
He said the German government had taken firm action in Sharmahd’s case and the German embassy in Tehran was working “relentlessly” in his favor and high-level teams sent from Berlin on several occasions.
“The execution of Jamshid Sharmahd is the extrajudicial execution of a hostage”declared Mahmoud Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norwegian-based NGO Iran Human Rights. The European Center for Human and Constitutional Rights, for its part, described this execution as “shocking”. “This is a new illustration of the weakness of this government, which does not allow justice to be done, since Jamshid Sharmahd did not have a fair trial and an independent defense”declared Wolfgang Kaleck, secretary general of the NGO.
