Family Denounces ‘Show Trial’ of German Held in Iran

 The family of Jamshid Sharmahd, 66, says that he was abducted by the Iranian security services in 2020 while in transit in Dubai. (AFP)
The family of Jamshid Sharmahd, 66, says that he was abducted by the Iranian security services in 2020 while in transit in Dubai. (AFP)
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Family Denounces ‘Show Trial’ of German Held in Iran

 The family of Jamshid Sharmahd, 66, says that he was abducted by the Iranian security services in 2020 while in transit in Dubai. (AFP)
The family of Jamshid Sharmahd, 66, says that he was abducted by the Iranian security services in 2020 while in transit in Dubai. (AFP)

The trial of an Iran-born German national jailed in Iran since 2020 is a sham, his family said Monday, accusing Tehran of illegally abducting him abroad while he traveled in the Gulf region.

The family of Jamshid Sharmahd, 66, says that he was abducted by the Iranian security services in 2020 while in transit in Dubai and vehemently denies the accusations against him.

He is one of over a dozen Western nationals -- including American, Austrian, British, French and German citizens -- still held in Iran as talks to revive the 2015 deal over Tehran's nuclear drive reach an acute phase.

Sharmahd, dressed in a striped Iranian prison uniform, appeared in court on Sunday charged with spreading "corruption on earth", which carries the death penalty.

"This was pure propaganda, a show trial, a kangaroo court. It is very disturbing," his daughter Gazelle Sharmahd, who is based in the US, told AFP.

"All of the charges are fabricated charges. They are scapegoating my dad who is innocent," she added.

Iran accuses Jamshid Sharmahd of being involved in the April 12, 2008, bombing of a mosque in Shiraz in southern Iran, which killed 14 people.

"My dad has never seen his lawyer. The lawyer did not have the right to look at his file," said Gazelle Sharmahd.

"This is a great violation of rights. How can you try someone without them letting them review the evidence against them?" she asked, adding that German representatives were not allowed inside the hearing.

'Great lengths'

Sharmahd and his family moved to Germany after Iran's revolution, and then on to Los Angeles in the United States after their children grew up.

A software designer, he became involved with an anti-regime group known as Kingdom Assembly of Iran and designed their website, the family says.

They say a software glitch a decade ago exposed his work in the group. This meant he could no longer stay anonymous and became the subject of Iranian propaganda, including on state TV, and was the target of an assassination plot in 2009.

"They have been going to great lengths to get my dad," said Gazelle Sharmahd.

He traveled to Mumbai in India in March 2020 to search for business opportunities, but got stuck by border closures as the pandemic erupted.

In June, India's borders re-opened and he sought to return to the US via Amsterdam, but was not allowed to board the plane as he was not a US resident. He traveled on to Germany, accumulating more debt.

He then planned to head back to Mumbai, taking a flight from Frankfurt to Dubai. He then had a video call with his wife on July 28, 2020, from his hotel room in Dubai, their last such communication.

'Complete shock'

"After that video call my dad stopped responding for three days. Radio silence," said his daughter.

A location tracker showed his wife he was moving towards Oman. "That freaked her out," his daughter Gazelle said.

"On July 31 she got a text message from him saying 'I am OK, I will contact you'. That was unusual for him."

"The next day we were told by family members to watch YouTube. There was a clip -- my dad was blindfolded and forced to confess to crimes that he did not commit."

"This video was a complete shock. We found out he is in the hands of the regime."

There was then no news from him, and his family feared he could be dead but he then called for the first time from prison in September 2020.

Iran announced his arrest in August 2020 in a "complex operation", without specifying how, where or when he was seized.

Activists accuse Iran of abducting regime opponents in a bid to put them on trial in Iran on charges that could see them sentenced to death, such as France-based Ruhollah Zam who was executed in December 2020.



UK Offers Peacekeeping Troops to Ukraine Ahead of Paris Talks 

Servicemen of the 24th Mechanized brigade, named after King Danylo, of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fire a BM-21 Grad multiple-launch rocket system toward Russian troops, on a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region, Ukraine February 15, 2025. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Press Service of the 24th King Danylo Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters)
Servicemen of the 24th Mechanized brigade, named after King Danylo, of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fire a BM-21 Grad multiple-launch rocket system toward Russian troops, on a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region, Ukraine February 15, 2025. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Press Service of the 24th King Danylo Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters)
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UK Offers Peacekeeping Troops to Ukraine Ahead of Paris Talks 

Servicemen of the 24th Mechanized brigade, named after King Danylo, of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fire a BM-21 Grad multiple-launch rocket system toward Russian troops, on a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region, Ukraine February 15, 2025. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Press Service of the 24th King Danylo Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters)
Servicemen of the 24th Mechanized brigade, named after King Danylo, of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fire a BM-21 Grad multiple-launch rocket system toward Russian troops, on a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region, Ukraine February 15, 2025. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Press Service of the 24th King Danylo Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has become the first European leader to say he is ready to put peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, making the commitment ahead of an emergency leaders' meeting in Paris to discuss Europe's role in a ceasefire.

US President Donald Trump stunned Ukraine and European allies last week when he announced he had held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin without consulting them to discuss bringing an end to the three-year conflict.

Trump's Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, said on Saturday Europe would not have a seat at the table for any peace talks. Washington sent a questionnaire to European capitals to ask what they could contribute to security guarantees for Kyiv.

Starmer, who is expected to travel to Washington to meet Trump next week, said on Sunday that Europe was facing a "once in a generation moment" for the collective security of the continent, and it must work closely with the United States.

He said Britain was ready to play a leading role in delivering security guarantees for Ukraine, including being ready to put "our own troops on the ground if necessary".

"The end of this war, when it comes, cannot merely become a temporary pause before Putin attacks again," he wrote in the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

French President Emmanuel Macron was due to host leaders from Germany, Italy, Britain, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark, which will represent Baltic and Scandinavian countries, along with the European Union leadership and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

Dozens of similar summits in the past have shown the 27-nation EU to be dithering, disunited and struggling to come up with a cohesive plan to end the Ukraine war on its doorstep.

Britain is not an EU member but has been a leading supporter of Ukraine in its fight to repel the Russian invasion. A peacekeeping force would raise the risk of a direct confrontation with Russia and stretch European militaries, whose arms stocks have been depleted by supplying Ukraine and who are used to relying heavily on US support for major missions.

EUROPE NEEDS TO 'DO MORE, BETTER'

A French presidency official said the acceleration in diplomacy meant Europe needed to do more and in a better way.

In the six-point questionnaire, seen by Reuters on Sunday, the US asked European allies in NATO what they would need from Washington to participate in Ukraine security arrangements.

"We believe that, as a result of the acceleration on the Ukrainian issue, and also as a result of what American leaders are saying, there is a need for Europeans to do more, better and in a coherent manner for our collective security," the official told reporters.

"These initiatives are an opportunity in the sense that they can help speed up the end of the war in Ukraine, but obviously we still need to agree and see under what conditions the end of the war can be achieved."

The discussion, he said, would look at "the security guarantees that can be given by the Europeans and the Americans, together or separately."

Peacekeepers would be just one element of the security guarantees being sought by Ukraine.

Some countries were unhappy that the Paris meeting was only for selected leaders and not a full EU summit, EU officials said.

The French presidency official said the meeting would facilitate future discussions in Brussels and at NATO.

"Everybody should be able to take part in the conversation," he said.