Iran executes Iranian-German dissident

 

Jamshid Sharmahd attends the first hearing of his trial in Tehran on Feb. 6, 2022. (Koosha Mahshid Falahi/Mizan News Agency)

Iran\’s state media reported Monday that authorities have executed Iranian-German dissident Jamshid Sharmahd after convicting him on terrorism charges.

Sharmahd, an Iranian and German dual citizen and opposition figure, was accused of masterminding a deadly 2008 bombing of a mosque in Shiraz. His family strongly denied the charges.

Sharmahd, 68, had been living in the United States, where he served as the spokesperson for Tondar, a group that aims to restore the Western-backed monarchy that ruled Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock condemned the execution in the “strongest possible terms” and said Sharmahd was “abducted to Iran from Dubai, held for years without a fair trial and has now been killed.”

She said the German government “made it crystal clear to Tehran time and again that the execution of a German national would have severe consequences.”

Germany expelled two Iranian diplomats in 2023 over Sharmahd’s sentence.

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday, "We have long made clear that we oppose the way Iran carries out executions, often in a way that fundamentally violates human rights.”

Sharmahd was given the death penalty in 2023 for “corruption on Earth,” a term Iranian authorities use to refer to a broad range of offenses, including those related to Islamic morals.

The Iranian judiciary\’s Mizan news agency reported his execution took place Monday morning but did not give further details.

Some information for this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

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