The Islamic Republic of Iran has reportedly executed journalist Jamshid Sharmahd, a California resident and a vocal critic of the Iranian government, according to The Associated Press. The execution was announced on Monday morning by the Iranian regime’s judiciary Mizan website.
Sharmahd’s daughter, Gazelle, who lives in California, previously told Digital that the Iranian regime is “scapegoating an innocent man” regarding bombing allegations, and spoke of his fondness for the United States.
She in August, 2023, said, “My dad chose the United States as his home, worked hard, followed all the rules, belongs to a family of four generations around him of U.S. citizenship, lived here for 20 years as a tax-paying, law-abiding resident and would already have his citizenship if it wasn’t for the terrorists and qualifies as a U.S. national under the Levinson law.”
The Levinson Act defines a “United States national” as a “lawful permanent resident with significant ties to the United States.” According to the State Department, the definition applies to non-U.S. citizens.
The act was named after Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent and private investigator who disappeared from an Iranian island in 2007. Levinson was held hostage and was declared dead in 2020 when he was said to have died in Iranian custody. His family blamed the Iranian regime for his capture and imprisonment.
Digital reported that the Biden administration faced intense criticism for reportedly abandoning Sharmahd and transferring his case to Germany. Sharmahd is also a German citizen. According to critics of Germany’s Iran policy, the German government failed to utilize its country’s economic and political influence to secure Sharmahd’s release.
Digital sent press queries to the German foreign ministry.
Sharmahd survived an assassination attempt in California in which an Iranian agent was convicted of the planned murder. He was then kidnapped by the Iranian regime in Dubai in 2020 during a business trip.
The Iranian regime-controlled website Mizan claimed, without evidence, that Sharmahd committed “multiple terrorist acts at the direction of his masters in the intelligence services of U.S. and Israel.”
Lawdan Bazargan, an Iranian-American human rights activist and expert on the clerical regime, told Digital, “In 1988, after the Islamic Republic of Iran was forced to accept a cease-fire with Iraq, it exacted brutal revenge by executing over 5,000 political prisoners, including my brother, Bijan, who had already served years behind bars. The world stood by in silence, failing to hold the regime accountable. Jamshid Sharmahd’s execution is now another diversion, covering the regime’s failures against Israel and the losses suffered by Hezbollah and Hamas.”
She added, “If the world remains silent again, more innocent Iranian prisoners will be killed. The global community must unite against this terrorist regime – Germany and other European nations should expel Iranian diplomats, close the Islamic Republic of Iran’s embassies that act as terror safe houses, and declare the IRGC a terrorist organization. The U.S. must also use every tool at its disposal to pressure Iran into halting these executions.”
Amnesty International noted that Sharmahd “was convicted of the charge of “Moharebeh” (enmity against God), which is not clearly defined in law, and as such contravenes the principle of legality” and termed his trial “grossly unfair.”
The British human rights group added, “Since July 2020, the Iranian authorities have been subjecting him to enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment, including through prolonged solitary confinement and denial of adequate health care.”
Tehran’s opaque justice system claims Sharmahd played a role in a 2008 terrorist attack at a mosque in Shiraz, Iran, that left 14 dead and more than 200 injured.
However, the regime-controlled media outlet Fars News quoted the Iranian National Security Council in 2008 as saying, “The explosion of a bomb or any explosion carried out by opposition elements, be they internal or foreign, is ruled out. The blast was caused by some munitions used in an exhibition for the [] martyrs in the mosque.”
Jason Poblete, the attorney for Jamshid Sharmahd, wrote on X, “We are receiving reports that the Islamic Republic of Iran has carried out the death sentence against U.S. Legal Permanent Resident and Californian Jamshid Sharmahd.” He added that the family requests privacy until the facts are confirmed.
Iranian journalist and human rights activist Vahid Beheshti , stating in part that Jamshid Sharmahd “was murdered today by the regime of the Islamic Republic.”
Digital reached out to the U.S. State Department for a comment.