Germany and different European nations should do all the things they will to save lots of a German citizen sentenced to dying by Iran after he was kidnapped within the Gulf, his daughter mentioned on Wednesday.
Jamshid Sharmahd, a German-Iranian twin nationwide, was Tuesday handed the dying sentence on terror fees vehemently rejected by his household, who additionally say he was kidnapped in Dubai by Iran in 2020 and brought to the Islamic republic for a present trial.
The European governments “ought to use all of the means of their political arsenal — each considered one of them,” his daughter Gazelle Sharmahd instructed AFP.
“It wants heroic measures proper now. It wants excessive measures,” she added, as Germany mentioned it was declaring two Iranian diplomats persona non grata in response to the decision.
She mentioned measures might vary from a chopping relations to ministers travelling to Iran and insisting in particular person on his launch.
“Every little thing may be very, very late. That is the final likelihood to save lots of my dad’s life,” she added. “We want huge escalation. We want motion.”
Gazelle Sharmahd raised deep concern over her father’s situation, saying he had misplaced all his tooth in jail and likewise not had the proper to talk to his household.
“Dad has been fading away in jail,” she mentioned.
“We do not even know the place he’s, we do not know the way he’s doing or even when he is aware of this horrible information (of the decision) and if each time his cell door opens he thinks he’s going to be pulled out for the final time.”
– ‘Kangaroo courts’ –
Sharmahd is considered one of two dozen twin nationwide and overseas passport holders detained by Iran in what campaigners see as a deliberate technique of hostage-taking to extract concessions from the West.
“My dad and all the twin nationals are scapegoats on this sick recreation they’re taking part in,” his daughter mentioned.
The household fears he dangers the same destiny to Ruhollah Zam, an Iranian who was based mostly in France. He was executed in December 2020 after having left Paris that October for Iraq, the place supporters say he was detained by Iran.
An Iranian-Swedish dissident, Habib Chaab, additionally vanished, in Turkey in October 2020, and is on trial in Iran, awaiting sentencing.
Iran-born Sharmahd was US-based and concerned with an Iranian opposition group, Tondar.
Iran says the group is a “terror” organisation and that Sharmahd was behind the lethal bombing of a mosque in 2008, fees rejected by the household.
“My dad was an activist,” mentioned Gazelle Sharmahd. “They prefer to silence activists and scare activists and inform them: ‘We are able to decide you up anyplace, we are able to kidnap you and parade you in our kangaroo courts we are able to execute you’.
“If my dad has no worth to the German authorities then they (Iran) will execute him to indicate their energy and ship a message to threaten others.
“Now we have to remain robust and say we won’t permit that.”
sjw/ah/fz