Iranian-German prisoner Jamshid Sharmawho was kidnapped in Dubai in 2020 by Iranian security forces, was executed in Iran after being found guilty of terrorism disputed by his family, the country’s justice system reported Monday.
Sharmahd, 69, was one of several Iranian dissidents abroad in recent years who were tricked or kidnapped into Iran as Tehran began to lash out after the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Sharmahd’s execution comes just two days later Israel launches retaliatory strike against Iran amid the ongoing wars in the Middle East. Without directly linking his execution to the attack, the judiciary accused him of being “under the orders of the masters of Western intelligence agencies, the United States and the child-killing Zionist regime” when he allegedly carried out attacks in Iran.
The Mizan judicial news agency reported that his execution took place Monday morning, without giving details. Iran, one of the world’s biggest executioners, usually hangs condemned prisoners at sunrise.
Iran has accused Sharmahd, who lived in Glendora, California, for two decades, of planning a 2008 attack on a mosque that killed 14 people and injured more than 200 others, as well as planned further assaults through the opposition group of the Assembly of the Kingdom of Iran and its Tondar. militant wing.
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Iran also accused Sharmahd of “leaking classified information” about the missile sites of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards during a 2017 television broadcast.
“Without a doubt, the divine promise regarding the supporters of terrorism will come true, and it is a sure promise,” the judiciary said in announcing his execution.
Sharmahd’s family disputed the allegations and worked for years to secure his release. They could not immediately be reached for comment.
Germany expelled two Iranian diplomats in 2023 following Sharmahd’s death sentence. The US State Department called Iran’s treatment of Sharmahd “reprehensible” and described him as facing a “sham trial”.
The German government and the U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Amnesty International said the proceedings against Sharmahd had been a “grossly unfair trial” as he had not had access to an independent lawyer or “the right to defend himself”.
“The court-appointed lawyer said that without the family’s $250,000 payment, he would not defend Jamshid Sharmahd in court and would ‘sit there,'” Amnesty said in a report on his case .
However, Amnesty noted that Sharmahd ran a website for the Kingdom of Iran Assembly and its activist wing Tondar that claimed “responsibility for explosions inside Iran”, although he repeatedly denied times being involved in the attacks.
Sharmahd was in Dubai in 2020 on his way to India for a business deal involving his software company. He hoped 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 July 28, 2020. It is unclear how the kidnapping happened. But tracking data showed that Sharmahd’s cellphone had traveled south from Dubai to the city of Al Ain on July 29, crossing the border into Oman. On July 30, tracking data showed that the cellphone had traveled to the Omani port city of Sohar, where the signal stopped.
Two days later, Iran announced that it had captured Sharmahd in a “complex operation.” The Ministry of Intelligence published a photo of him blindfolded.
His daughter, Gazelle Sharmahd, saw her father appear on Iranian television in a courtroom, looking petrified.
“He is forced to confess to crimes he did not commit,” Gazelle Sharmahd told “60 Minutes” recently. “The charge they brought against him was that of corruption on Earth. That’s why he was sentenced to death.”
Koosha Mahshid Falahi/AP
Iran is carrying out the greatest number of executions every year after China, according to rights groups including Amnesty International. The number of executions in 2023 was the highest recorded since 2015 and marked an increase of 48% compared to 2022 and 172% compared to 2021, Amnesty said.
According to Human Rights Watch, Iran executed at least 87 people in August, including 29 in one day.
