Iran has executed Jamshid Sharmahd, a German-Iranian dissident, after his conviction for allegedly “leading terror operations,” according to state media reports.
Sharmahd was sentenced to death last year for “corruption on Earth” and was accused of heading a US-based pro-monarchist group. He consistently denied the charges, with his family asserting that he was merely a spokesman.
Germany’s foreign minister warned that the execution of a German citizen would have “serious consequences” for Iran. Annalena Baerbock expressed her outrage on X, stating, “The killing of Jamshid Sharmahd shows what kind of inhumane regime rules in Iran.”
Human rights organizations have condemned Sharmahd’s execution, citing serious violations of international law throughout the process of his arrest, trial, and execution. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights, emphasized the gravity of the situation.
Sharmahd was reportedly kidnapped by Iranian agents in Dubai in 2020 and forcibly taken to Iran via Oman. In August 2020, Iran’s intelligence ministry announced his arrest, claiming it resulted from a “complex operation,” though details were not disclosed.
Amnesty International has alleged that Sharmahd was coerced into confessing and told his family he had been tortured while in detention. He had created a website to publish statements from the Kingdom Assembly of Iran, a little-known US-based group also known as Tondar (Persian for Thunder), which aims to restore the monarchy that was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iranian authorities claimed that Sharmahd was the leader of Tondar and had orchestrated 23 terror attacks, five of which were said to be successful, including a 2008 mosque bombing in Shiraz that killed 14 people. A video of him blindfolded and confessing to various crimes was also released.
Sharmahd was sentenced to death in February of the previous year. His daughter, Gazelle, has urged German prosecutors to investigate the alleged mistreatment of her father by the Iranian judiciary. In July 2023, after two years without contact, she stated, “They’re killing him softly in solitary confinement in this death cell,” and accused the regime of seeking a public execution to instill fear in dissenters.
Sharmahd was executed on Sunday, following approval from the Supreme Court, as reported by the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan website. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the execution as a “scandal,” emphasizing that Sharmahd was not given a fair chance to defend himself during the trial.