Iran executes Iranian-German prisoner Jamshid Sharmahd over terror conviction

Judiciary announces killing of California resident abducted from Dubai whose family dispute charges against him, and whose trial Amnesty called ‘grossly unfair’

A demonstrator holds a picture of Iranian-German Jamshid Sharmahd, at the time facing a death sentence in Iran, and with the lettering 'Free Jamshid' during a demonstration for his release in front of the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin, July 31, 2023. (Ina Fassbender/AFP)
A demonstrator holds a picture of Iranian-German Jamshid Sharmahd, at the time facing a death sentence in Iran, and with the lettering 'Free Jamshid' during a demonstration for his release in front of the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin, July 31, 2023. (Ina Fassbender/AFP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian-German prisoner Jamshid Sharmahd, who was kidnapped in Dubai in 2020 by Iranian security forces, has been executed in Iran after being convicted on terror charges disputed by his family, the country’s judiciary reported Monday.

The judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported that his execution took place Monday morning.

Iran accused Sharmahd, who lived in Glendora, California, of planning a 2008 attack on a mosque that killed 14 people and wounded over 200 others, as well as plotting other assaults through the little-known Kingdom Assembly of Iran and its Tondar militant wing.

Iran also accused Sharmahd of “disclosing classified information” on missile sites of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard during a television program in 2017.

“Without a doubt, the divine promise regarding the supporters of terrorism will be fulfilled, and this is a definite promise,” the judiciary said in announcing his execution.

His family disputed the allegations and worked for years to see him freed. They could not be immediately reached for comment. The German government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Iranian-German national and US resident Jamshid Sharmahd attends his trial at the Revolutionary Court, in Tehran, Iran, February 6, 2022. (Koosha Mahshid Falahi/Mizan News Agency via AP)

Amnesty International said the proceedings against Sharmahd were a “grossly unfair trial” because he was denied access to an independent lawyer and “the right to defend himself.”

“The government-appointed lawyer said that, without payment of $250,000 from the family, he would not defend Jamshid Sharmahd in court and would only ‘sit there,'” Amnesty said, in one report on his case.

However, the organization noted that Sharmahd ran a website for the Kingdom Assembly of Iran and its Tondar militant wing that included “claims of responsibility for explosions inside Iran,” even as he repeatedly denied being involved in the attacks.

Sharmahd had been in Dubai in 2020, trying to travel to India for a business deal involving his software company. He was hoping 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 abduction happened, but tracking data showed that Sharmahd’s mobile phone 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 mobile phone traveled to the Omani port city of Sohar, where the signal stopped.

Two days later, Iran announced it had captured Sharmahd in a “complex operation.” The Intelligence Ministry published a photograph of him blindfolded.

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