Iranian Judiciary Reports German-Iranian Dissident Died Prior to Execution

The Iranian judiciary announced that Jamshid Sharmahd, an Iranian-German dissident, passed away prior to the state media’s report of his execution late last month. On October 28, the news agency of the judiciary stated that Sharmahd, who received a death sentence in 2023 for “corruption on Earth” following a trial that human rights organizations criticized as profoundly unjust, had been “punished for his actions”. Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir informed reporters on Tuesday that “his sentence was ready to be implemented, but he died before the sentence was carried out.” He did not provide additional information. Gazelle, Sharmahd’s daughter, expressed her disbelief in statements from Iranian authorities and called for verification through an independent international inquiry. She leveled accusations against Germany and the US, where Sharmahd resided, citing “failing policies, shirking responsibility and gross negligence” regarding the situation. She insisted that they now “fulfil their duty, find my father, and return him to Germany and then the US and launch investigations.” She further stated, “My father was kidnapped, tortured, isolated and robbed off all his basic rights for four long years.” She concluded, “Any cause of death under these circumstances is premeditated murder and a declaration of war against all of Europe and America.” An official from Germany informed Reuters news agency: “Jamshid Sharmahd was abducted by Iran and detained for years without a fair trial, in inhumane conditions and without the necessary medical care. Iran is responsible for his death.” Last week, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock mandated the closure of all three Iranian consulates within Germany and recalled the German ambassador from Tehran, reacting to what she denounced as the “cold-blooded murder” of Sharmahd. During Tuesday’s news conference, Mr. Jahangir rejected Germany’s protest, asserting that Iran’s judicial system constituted “an independent institution” and that it did “not allow any interference of any foreign country in judicial affairs.” He additionally stated that Sharmahd, a resident of the US, had faced trial “as an Iranian for the terrorist actions that he committed.” These remarks followed Gazelle Sharmahd’s demand for proof of her father’s execution by two days. Iranian authorities accused the 69-year-old journalist and activist of leading a terrorist organization named Tondar and orchestrating several attacks in Iran, among them the 2008 bombing of a mosque in Shiraz, which resulted in 14 fatalities. Tondar, meaning “thunder” in Persian, is an alternative designation for the Kingdom Assembly of Iran (KAI), a relatively obscure US-based opposition faction aiming to reinstate the monarchy deposed during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Sharmahd asserted that he merely served as a spokesman for Tondar and disavowed any participation in the attacks. His daughter characterized the allegations as “slanderous, baseless… and outrageous.” His family holds the belief that Iranian agents abducted him in July 2020 in Dubai, where he was awaiting a connecting flight to India, subsequently transporting him by force to Iran through Oman. The subsequent month, Iran’s intelligence ministry declared Sharmahd’s arrest after a “complex operation,” offering no specific details. It also released a video depicting him blindfolded and seemingly admitting to several offenses. Additionally, Iran’s judiciary disclosed on Tuesday that a court in Orumiyeh, a city in the north-west, had issued death sentences to three individuals found guilty of participating in the 2020 assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a prominent Iranian nuclear scientist. Fakhrizadeh was fatally shot by a remote-controlled weapon close to Tehran in an assault that Iran attributed to Israel. Mr. Jahangir stated that the three individuals faced accusations of “committing espionage for the occupying regime of Israel” and “transporting equipment into Iran for the assassination of martyr Fakhrizadeh under the guise of smuggling alcoholic beverages.”