Tehran executes German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmahd over ‘terror’ conviction

Sharmahd, a German citizen who holds US residency, was sentenced to death in 2023 for ‘leading terror operations’.

A German citizen of Iranian descent, who was convicted of ‘leading terrorist operations’, has been executed in Iran, according to the Iranian state media.

“After going through the judicial process and the final approval of the court decision by the Supreme Court, the death sentence of Jamshid Sharmahd … was carried out this morning,” the news site Mizan said on Monday.

Mizan described Sharmahd as “a criminal terrorist” who “was hosted by American and European countries and was operating under the complex protection of their intelligence services”.

Sharmahd, who also holds United States residency, was sentenced to death in 2023 on charges of “corruption on earth”, a capital offence under Iran’s Islamic laws. He was convicted of heading a pro-monarchist group accused of a deadly 2008 bombing and planning other attacks in the country.

Germany’s foreign minister on Monday strongly condemned Iran’s “inhumane regime” for the execution of the 69-year-old German citizen.

“The killing of Jamshid Sharmahd shows once again what kind of inhumane regime rules in Tehran: a regime that uses death against its youth, its own population and foreign nationals,” said FM Annalena Baerbock, adding that Berlin had repeatedly made clear “that the execution of a German national would have serious consequences”.

‘The ringleader of the terrorist group’

Sharmahd was seized by Iranian authorities in August 2020 while travelling through the United Arab Emirates, according to his family.

Iran, which does not recognise dual citizenship, announced his arrest after a “complex operation”, without specifying how, where or when he was seized. Sharmahd’s arrest was also announced in an intelligence ministry statement that described him as “the ringleader of the terrorist Tondar group, who directed armed and terrorist acts in Iran from America.”

Based in Los Angeles, the little-known Kingdom Assembly of Iran, or Tondar, says it seeks to restore the Iranian monarchy that was overthrown by the 1979 Islamic revolution. It runs pro-Iranian opposition radio and television stations abroad.

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights condemned the execution as “shocking”.

“It is another sign of the weakness of the government, which does not allow justice, because Jamshid Sharmahd was denied a proper trial with an independent defence,” Wolfgang Kaleck, ECCHR’s secretary-general, said in a statement.

Kaleck added: “The unlawful abduction of Sharmahd, his subsequent torture in custody, the unfair show trial and today’s execution are exemplary of the countless crimes of the Iranian regime.”

According to human rights group Amnesty International, Sharmahd had been subjected to “enforced disappearance, torture and other ill treatment”.

Sharmahd, while born in Tehran, does not hold an Iranian passport, and is a German citizen resident in the US state of California, according to his family.

Last December, his daughter, Gazelle Sharmahd, wrote a post on X, saying that “the families of German prisoners in Iran have been told by the German government for three years that ‘talks behind closed doors are better because publicity endangers the hostages’”.

“But what has this public silence and confidential dialogue brought us?” she asked.

A spokeswoman for the foreign ministry responded and said that Germany’s “stance towards the Iranian regime is very clear and we condemn where it violates human rights”.