Iranian Dual Nationals Alarmed after Tehran Executes German-Iranian

Jamshid Sharmahd, 69, was executed on Monday - AFP
Jamshid Sharmahd, 69, was executed on Monday - AFP
TT
20

Iranian Dual Nationals Alarmed after Tehran Executes German-Iranian

Jamshid Sharmahd, 69, was executed on Monday - AFP
Jamshid Sharmahd, 69, was executed on Monday - AFP

Iran's execution of a German-Iranian dissident this week is a clear message that a Western passport cannot shield critics of the Tehran government, Iranians with dual nationality say.

Jamshid Sharmahd, 69, was executed on Monday after several years behind bars, sparking condemnation from Germany and the European Union.

"It's terrifying to wake up to this kind of news. It's proof that this regime is staying in power through violence, cruelty and executions," said Sahar Aghakhani, a 30-year-old Franco-Iranian working in the health sector.

"But it's also a message: dual nationality does not protect you against the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Sharmahd, a German citizen of Iranian descent and a US resident, had written for an Iranian opposition group's website based abroad that strongly criticized the Islamic republic's leadership.

Iranian authorities seized Sharmahd in 2020 while he was in the United Arab Emirates, according to his family, AFP reported.

Iran accused him of involvement in a deadly 2008 mosque bombing, and sentenced him to death in 2023 after what rights group Amnesty International called "forced confessions" and a "sham trial".

Now the the families of other detainees are worried, including the wife of Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali.

The resident of Sweden was arrested in Iran in 2016 and sentenced to death in 2017 on charges of spying for Israel's Mossad. He has since been granted Swedish nationality.

"I'm really afraid," Vida Mehrannia told AFP.

"We cannot prevent the same scenario from happening to Ahmadreza."

- 'Very chilling effect' -

Several other dual nationals have been put to death since 2023.

Iran hanged Habib Chaab, an Iranian-Swedish national, on a "terrorism" conviction last year, drawing strong condemnation from Sweden.

It also executed Alireza Akbari, a former Iranian deputy defense minister who was granted British citizenship after leaving his post, last year after he was convicted of spying for Britain.

Like Sharmahd, two other critics of the Iranian leadership based abroad were "abducted", Amnesty says.

Chaab disappeared in Türkiye in 2020, it said.

The previous year, dissident journalist Rouhollah Zam, who lived in France, was "abducted" during a visit to Iraq, according to Amnesty. He was executed in Iran in 2020.

US-Iranian human rights lawyer Gissou Nia, of the Atlantic Council, said the latest execution had "a very chilling effect".

"There are Iranian dissidents all over the world... This essentially puts a target on all their backs," she told the Deutsche Welle broadcaster.

Aghakhani said she had not been to Iran since 2022.

That year the death in custody of young Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini, after she was arrested for allegedly violating the country's strict dress code for women, sparked mass protests. But they were violently crushed by Iran's leadership.

"Among close acquaintances we now think twice before travelling abroad, including to countries in Iran's neighbourhood," she said.

Ayda Hazijadeh, another Franco-Iranian who is a Socialist member of France's parliament, said she had not returned to her home country for a decade.

"I take zero risks. I wouldn't tempt fate," she said.

- 'Hostages' -

Iran, which does not recognize dual citizenship, holds several Europeans in detention, most of them also Iranian.

Rights groups describe them as "hostages" used as leverage in negotiations.

Several Westerners have been released in informal prisoner swaps, but families often feel in the dark about progress in behind-the-scenes talks. Some have accused Western governments of being ineffective.

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the German embassy in Tehran had worked "tirelessly" on Sharmahd's behalf.

But Mariam Claren -- the daughter of German-Iranian Nahid Taghavi who has been held in Iran since 2020 -- charged on X that his "state murder could have been prevented if the German government had really wanted to".

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights, called on the international community to condemn the "extrajudicial killing".

According to IHR, at least 627 people have been executed this year by Iran.

NGOs outside Iran accuse Tehran of using capital punishment as a tool to instil fear.

The execution came days after Israel carried out air strikes on military sites in Iran as Middle East tensions soar.

Hazijadeh, the lawmaker, said the reason for the timing of the execution was unclear. "There are so many regional, international issues at stake," she said.

"I don't think the hostages have been abandoned. States are doing their best, but it's extremely difficult to negotiate with the Iranian regime."



Trump Says Expects Iran Diplomacy Will 'Work Out'

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani listens to US President Donald Trump at the Royal Palace in Doha. Karim JAAFAR / AFP
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani listens to US President Donald Trump at the Royal Palace in Doha. Karim JAAFAR / AFP
TT
20

Trump Says Expects Iran Diplomacy Will 'Work Out'

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani listens to US President Donald Trump at the Royal Palace in Doha. Karim JAAFAR / AFP
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani listens to US President Donald Trump at the Royal Palace in Doha. Karim JAAFAR / AFP

US President Donald Trump voiced hope on Wednesday that diplomatic efforts would succeed on Iran's nuclear program, even as he vowed rigorous enforcement of sanctions.

Trump, on his first visit to the Middle East since returning to the White House, said he spoke about Iran with the leader of Qatar, which maintains relations with both longtime adversaries.

"It's been really an interesting situation. I have a feeling it's going to work out," Trump said of Iran after talks with the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, AFP reported.

The Trump administration has held four rounds of talks with Tehran, as the president seeks to avert a threatened Israeli military strike on the Iranian nuclear program.

"I want to make a deal with Iran. I want to do something, if it's possible," Trump told a summit of Gulf Arab leaders in Riyadh earlier Wednesday.

"But for that to happen, it must stop sponsoring terror, halt its bloody proxy wars, and permanently and verifiably cease its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

"I'm strongly urging all nations to join us in fully and totally enforcing the sanctions" imposed on Iran by the United States, he said.

The Trump administration in recent weeks has imposed sanctions on a series of entities and individuals linked to Iran's oil industry and nuclear program.

'Very deceptive view'

In 2018, Trump walked out of a landmark agreement between major powers and Iran that gave it sanctions relief in return for UN-monitored restrictions on its nuclear activities.

He slapped sweeping sanctions on Iran, including secondary measures against any country that buys Iranian oil.

Trump said that such secondary sanctions "are in certain ways even more devastating" than direct sanctions on Iran.

Trump in a speech Tuesday in Riyadh also said he favored diplomacy but harshly criticized Iran's clerical leaders, saying they were "focused on stealing their people's wealth to fund terror and bloodshed abroad".

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that he had listened to the remarks and "unfortunately a very deceptive view has been put forward".

Iranian officials and the Trump administration have both offered positive takes on the initial talks.

But it is unclear whether they went in depth, including on the key issue of whether the US will insist on ending all Iranian uranium enrichment, including for civilian purposes.

Asked by a reporter on Air Force One whether he was prepared to exert more pressure on Iran, Trump said: "Let's see what happens over the next week."

Iran also said it would hold talks in Türkiye on Friday with representatives of Britain, France and Germany.

The three European powers were part of the 2015 agreement ripped up by Trump in his first term.

"While we continue the dialogue with the United States, we are also ready to talk with the Europeans," Araghchi said.