Iran Supreme Court upholds Iranian-German man’s death sentence

Tehran, Iran – Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for Iranian-German dual national Jamshid Sharmahd on charges of “corruption on earth”.

The court upheld a previous conviction against Sharmahd, issued by a lower court in February, for heading a pro-monarchist group accused of planning attacks across Iran, according to the judiciary’s official news website.

“In the appeal, there is no reason or proof that would create the grounds for dismissing the initial verdict, and the sentence of the convicted has been issued in accordance with the law based on presented evidence,” the Supreme Court said on Wednesday.

The 67-year-old, who also has United States residency and was arrested in 2020, has been accused of being the leader of the US-based group Tondar (which means “thunder” in Farsi), which has said it seeks to restore the monarchy that was toppled in a 1979 revolution.

The main charge he faced was masterminding a 2008 bombing at a mosque in the southern city of Shiraz, which killed 14 people and wounded hundreds.

He has also been accused of planning a series of other attacks, including bombings and assassinations, in addition to passing information to US and Israeli intelligence.

It was unclear how or where Sharmahd was apprehended. His daughter, Gazelle Sharmahd, said previously that he was last heard from in Dubai shortly before appearing in an Iranian state video showing he was in custody.

Sharmahd’s family have maintained that he is innocent and have called on European officials to secure his release. The German government has repeatedly condemned the Iranian authorities’ handling of the case, saying Sharmahd did not have a fair trial.

The confirmation of the verdict, which could pave the way for Sharmahd to be executed, came two days after the European Union, the United Kingdom and the US coordinated new sets of sanctions on Tehran that they said were in response to human rights abuses.

The EU blacklisted eight Iranians, including lawmakers and members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in addition to a mobile telecommunications provider. Tehran responded by blacklisting a number of European politicians and entities.