The dissident Jamshid Sharmahd was sentenced to death in 2023. His family accused the German government of not doing enough to secure his release.
Jamshid Sharmahd in court in Iran in 2022.
Tasnim News Agency
The German-Iranian dual citizen Jamshid Sharmahd was executed in Iran. A death sentence imposed on him was said to have been carried out this Monday morning, as reported by the Iranian justice portal Misan. The dissident was convicted at the beginning of last year.
According to his family, Sharmahd disappeared in 2020 while on a business trip during a stopover in Dubai. She assumes that he was kidnapped by Iranian authorities. A little later, Iranian state television showed the man apparently being tortured. It was said at the time that he had made a confession. Since then he has been in prison in Iran. His family only had sporadic contact with him.
Sharmahd convicted of “corruption on earth”.
Sharmahd came to Germany from Iran in 1980 and worked as an engineer at Siemens for 16 years. In 1995 he received German citizenship. He later lived with his family in the USA. There he was active in the opposition movement “Tondar,” which aims to overthrow the Islamic Republic and establish a monarchy.
Iran accused him, among other things, of being involved in the terrorist attack on an Iranian mosque in 2008. He is also said to have been in contact with foreign secret services. The family denies the allegations. Like many dissidents, Sharmahd was ultimately convicted of “corruption on earth.”
Daughter of the executed man met with Baerbock
In response to the verdict, Germany expelled two Iranian diplomats last year. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock summoned the Iranian ambassador. However, the German embassy in Tehran was not granted access to Sharmahd until recently, citing his Iranian citizenship.
The German side always said that they were committed to “high-level” support for the detainees. However, Sharmahd’s family criticized the German government for not making enough efforts to free him. In the NZZ, the daughter of the executed man, Gazelle Sharmahd, called for more “economic pressure” from the German government. The regime in Iran did not think that Germany was serious, she said at the time.
In September last year she finally met with Baerbock in Washington to talk about her father’s case. However, nothing was known about the exact content of the conversation.
Swiss
