Iran executes German-Iranian dissident accused of terrorism

Berlin describes the execution as a “scandal” and denounces that “he did not even have the opportunity to defend himself”

Oct. 29 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Iranian authorities announced this Monday the execution of Jamshid Sharmahd, a German-Iranian citizen who lived in California (United States), accused of having participated in several terrorist attacks in the country, despite reports that he had been kidnapped in Dubai in 2020 by Iranian security forces.

The Iranian Judiciary has reported that it has executed Sharmahd, considering him the head of the Tondar terrorist group, accused of leading terrorist attacks on the orders of the West and Israel’s Intelligence services, according to a statement collected by the Mizan news agency.

The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has stated that the execution is “a scandal” that he condemns in “the strongest possible terms” and has denounced that the accused “did not even have the opportunity to defend himself against the accusations made against him at the trial.” “. “The federal government has repeatedly campaigned intensely on behalf of Sharmahd. My deepest condolences to his family,” he added.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has also condemned the Iranian regime’s execution. “Kidnapped from Dubai to Iran and held for years without a fair trial, he was murdered today,” he said, before adding that a high-level team was sent to Tehran “on several occasions” in order to negotiate the situation. However, he reiterated that “the execution of a German citizen will have serious consequences.”

“The murder of Jamshid Sharmahd shows the inhumane regime that exists: a regime that uses death against its youth, its own population and its foreign citizens. Even under the new government, no one is safe in Iran,” he maintained through his profile on social network X.

For its part, Washington has joined in condemning the application of the death penalty against Sharmahd, stressing that it is the “most recent case in the history of the regime of transnational repression and disregard for Human Rights.” “We stand with Germany, the Sharmahd family and the international community to hold the regime accountable,” added the head of US diplomacy, Matthew Miller.

The group, based in the United States and known as Tondar (Thunder, in Persian) seeks to restore the monarchy overthrown in the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Iranian authorities claimed that Sharmahd was the leader of the group and that he had planned more than twenty terrorist attacks, although five “were successful,” including a 2008 mosque bombing in Shiraz that killed 14 people.