Iranian-German sentenced to death by Tehran court, Berlin condemns it
An Iranian court on Tuesday sentenced death to an Iranian-German dual national who is accused of being the leader of a “terrorist” group behind a deadly 2008 mosque bombing.
“The Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Jamshid Sharmahd, the leader of the Tondar terrorist group, to death on the charge of corruption on earth through planning and directing terrorist acts,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online news agency reports.
According to reports, Sharmahd can appeal against his death sentence before the supreme court.
The 67-year-old, an Iranian-born German national and a US resident, was arrested in August 2020. The pro-monarchist terrorist group, Tondar, he is accused of leading has been conspiring to overthrow the Islamic Republic.
It was alleged that Tondar and Sharmahd “planned 23 terror attacks”, of which “five were successful”, including the 2008 bombing of a mosque in Shiraz that killed 14 people.
Tondar – which means “thunder” in Persian – is another name of the Kingdom Assembly of Iran (KAI), a little-known US-based opposition group that seeks to restore the monarchy overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
At that time, the Iranian authorities had described his arrest as a “complex operation” without specifying how, where or when he was caught.
His family, however, claims that he was abducted by the Iranian security services in Dubai and then brought under duress to Iran.
“They kidnapped Jamshid Sharmahd and now they’ve sentenced him to death after a sham trial,” said the head of the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam, reports AFP news agency.
Germany’s response
Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock deplored the sentence handed out by the Tehran court, calling it “absolutely unacceptable”.
“We call on Iran to remedy these shortcomings in the appeals process, correct the verdict accordingly and refrain from the death penalty,” a statement said.
“Imposing the death penalty on Mr Sharmahd will provoke a strong reaction.”
Tuesday’s sentence comes a month after Iran executed British-Iranian dual national Alireza Akbari, a former deputy Iranian defence minister who was convicted of spying for the UK.
(With inputs from agencies)
