Iranian state media reported that Jamshid Sharmahad, who was convicted last year, was executed on Monday.
Mr. Sharmahad was sentenced to death in February 2023 after being convicted by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court on charges related to his involvement in the 2008 attack on a mosque in Shiraz that killed 14 people.
However, his formal conviction in Iran was for a much more vague Iranian criminal offense: spreading “corruption on earth.” This is an umbrella phrase used by Islamic regimes for a range of alleged crimes, often related to religious values.
Iranian media, including legal news site Mizan, reported that the execution took place on Monday morning.
Iran also accused him of contacting “FBI and CIA officials” and “attempting to contact Israeli Mossad operatives.”
California residents likely to be arrested in Dubai in 2020
The Iranian government had accused Sharmad of being the “leader of the terrorist Tondar Group, who received instructions from the United States to carry out armed and terrorist acts in Iran.” The little-known Tondar Group, an armed wing of the Royal Iranian Parliament, is based in California and claims to aim to restore Iran’s monarchy, which was overthrown by the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Before the apparent kidnapping in Dubai and subsequent detention in Iran, Sharmahad, 69, lived in California.
His daughter Gazelle spearheaded the fight to spare him execution.
Germany, the European Union and other countries also called for the death penalty to be lifted.
“I don’t think you can change a terrorist regime with words,” Ghazel Sharmahad told DW shortly after her father was sentenced in 2023. “This is a regime that kidnaps people like my father from outside Iran and brings them to Iran. … Unfortunately, this terrorist regime will not respond to any dialogue or diplomacy.”
Daughter of Iranian-German man sentenced to death speaks to DW
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Sharmahad’s ruling was upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court in October last year.
Berlin condemns Sharmahad’s ‘murder’
German Foreign Minister Annalena Verbock condemned the “murder” of the dual national “in the strongest possible terms”.
“Jamshid Sharmahd was kidnapped by Iran from Dubai, held for years without a fair trial, and now murdered,” she said, adding that the German embassy in Tehran and the ministry had sent senior officials to help him. He added that he is working hard on the case. Ranking the delegations to Tehran.
“We have repeatedly made it clear to Iran that the execution of German citizens has serious consequences,” he said in an online post, without specifying Germany’s next steps.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also condemned Sharmad’s execution “in the strongest terms”, calling it a “scandal”.
“Jamshid Sharmahad was not even given the opportunity to defend himself in court against the charges against him,” Scholz wrote to X. “The German government has repeatedly and intensively supported Mr. Sharmahd. We extend our deepest condolences to his family.”
Earlier on Monday, conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz called the executions a “heinous crime” and said the trial was a “mockery” of international legal standards.
“The inhuman nature of the Iranian regime has once again been exposed,” Mertz said. “I call on the (German) federal government to take a decisive action. The ‘quiet diplomacy’ approach towards Iran has failed. The Iranian ambassador must be expelled. It is necessary to downgrade diplomatic relations to the level of envoy. be.”
Merz also called on Germany to strengthen European sanctions against Iran, saying that Germany’s bilateral approach to Iran in recent years was based on the idea that Tehran would be cooperative, adding: “This illusion… should be crushed after the execution of the Iranian president at the latest.” They are German citizens involved in illegal procedures,” he said.
Amnesty International deplored ‘grossly unfair’ trial
German Foreign Minister Annalena Verbock last year called Sharmahad’s sentence “absolutely unacceptable” and said he had not received a fair trial.
Human rights NGO Amnesty International made similar complaints in its report on the case, calling the proceedings “grossly unfair.” In its report on the first conviction last April, Amnesty International said Sharmahad was denied access to an independent lawyer of his own choice and claimed the services of a public defender were inadequate. .
“His government-appointed lawyer told his family on July 2, 2022 that it was “pointless” to object to the revolutionary court’s admission of his forced “confession” as evidence. ” Amnesty International wrote. “Previously, on May 9, 2021, a government-appointed lawyer said he would not defend Jamsheed Sharmad in court and would “just sit” unless $250,000 was paid by his family. said.”
msh/dj (AP, DPA, Reuters)