Iran has executed German-Iranian dissident Jamshid Sharmahd, state media reported, following his conviction for “leading terror operations” and “corruption on Earth”. Sharmahd, who lived in the United States, had been accused of leading a US-based pro-monarchist group called Kingdom Assembly of Iran, also known as Tondar (Persian for Thunder).
Sharmahd was sentenced to death last year, despite denying the charges against him. His family maintained that he was only a spokesman for the group, which seeks to restore the monarchy overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock condemned the execution on X (formerly Twitter), stating, “The killing of Jamshid Sharmahd shows what kind of inhumane regime rules (in Iran).” She added that Berlin had repeatedly warned Tehran that the execution of a German citizen would “have serious consequences”.
Human rights organizations, including Iran Human Rights and Amnesty International, have strongly condemned the execution. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group, said, “The entire process, including his arrest, conviction, and execution, constitutes a serious violation of international law.”
Sharmahd is believed to have been kidnapped by Iranian agents in Dubai in 2020 and forcibly taken to Iran via Oman. In August 2020, Iran’s intelligence ministry announced his arrest following a “complex operation” but provided no further details.
Amnesty International has claimed that Sharmahd was forced to confess and had told his family he had been tortured while in detention. Iranian authorities alleged that Sharmahd was Tondar’s leader and had “planned 23 terror attacks”, of which “five were successful”, including the 2008 bombing of a mosque in Shiraz that killed 14 people.
Sharmahd’s daughter, Gazelle, had previously called on German prosecutors to investigate the Iranian judiciary’s alleged mistreatment of her father. In July 2023, she told the BBC, “They’re killing him softly in solitary confinement in this death cell,” adding that the Iranian authorities “want a public execution for my dad, to send out this message of terror: that anybody who speaks out against the regime, we can do this to you.”
The execution took place on Sunday after approval from Iran’s Supreme Court, according to the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan website. The controversial case has further strained relations between Iran and the international community, with human rights organizations and foreign governments condemning the execution and calling for accountability.
