Daughter of Jamshid Sharmahd: They Want to Sentence My Father to Death Like Ruhollah Zam

The daughter of Jamshid Sharmahd, a dual-nationality prisoner in Iran, says that over the past six months they have not been allowed to speak with her father at all and did not even know he was alive. She says the Islamic Republic intends to execute Mr. Sharmahd.

Ghazaleh Sharmahd said on Tuesday, February 9, in an interview with the Persian section of Voice of America, referring to Jamshid Sharmahd’s presence in court last week: “We know they want to sentence him to death. We have heard from many places that they wanted to give him this sentence seven months ago, and now they have just come to quickly pass the process and eliminate my father.”

Ms. Sharmahd, noting that she was unaware of her father’s situation for a long time, said that after six months, and following the execution of Ruhollah Zam, they informed the family that Mr. Sharmahd was a prisoner.

The first hearing of Jamshid Sharmahd, an Iranian-German citizen, was held Sunday morning, February 7, at Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court presided over by Judge Solawati. Government-affiliated media reported Jamshid Sharmahd’s arrest last August. Mr. Sharmahd, after Fuladwand’s landing, is the second member of a group called the “Royalist Association” that Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence claims it has abducted abroad and transferred to the country. The Royalist Association and the affiliated Tondar group state their goal is overthrowing the Islamic Republic. In response, the Islamic Republic considers the Royalist Association and Tondar group “terrorist.”

Mihan News Agency, affiliated with the judiciary, published a photo from Jamshid Sharmahd’s court hearing, writing that the session was held in the presence of a prosecutor representative and victims’ families, and the defendant was present with his lawyers and it was an “open trial.” Mr. Sharmahd has been charged with “corruption on earth.”

Jamshid Sharmahd’s daughter considered this trial “a show” and “propaganda” that has been launched so that like Ruhollah Zam, they will “sentence her father to death.”

Ms. Sharmahd, stating that the accused should be presumed innocent until guilt is proven and they cannot punish him before a verdict is issued, emphasized: “He is being punished right now. He has been in solitary confinement for 557 days. This is punishment. This is torture.”

Ms. Sharmahd, noting that another court hearing is scheduled to be held 30 days later for her father, added: “Even now we still do not have access to my father to tell him what to do, how to have access to his lawyer. Without a real lawyer, he really does not know any of his rights. We have less than 30 days to save him and we are very, very worried and we ask everyone to help us so that this does not happen.”

We Did Not Even Know about His Trial

Jamshid Sharmahd’s family is unaware of his situation and over the past 18 months have “rarely” been able to speak with him, while an official was beside him. These contacts have been cut off for the past six months.

Ghazaleh Sharmahd says her father’s trial proceedings occurred without any notification. She said: “We have no way to ask him about his health, his place of detention, or about his case. We learned from the media that he was scheduled to go to court. The only person we could contact was his state-appointed lawyer, and we spoke with him only half an hour before he went to court, and he said they informed him 24 hours before the trial that he should go there.”

The daughter of this dual-nationality prisoner held in Iran called this trial “a show” that, despite claiming to be “open,” neither Mr. Sharmahd’s chosen lawyer nor a representative of the German embassy were allowed to attend the court.

Ms. Sharmahd explained: “Now that this show trial is over, we still do not have access to him. I call Evin, I call everywhere, but we have no access to him so we can even tell him his rights and the rights of my father.”

Nothing about This Trial Is Fair

Ghazaleh Sharmahd, emphasizing that “nothing about this trial is fair,” said: The judge must first be impartial, but it is clear that Judge Solawati is not impartial. He does not allow independent lawyers to work on the case. A lawyer should defend his client. The state-appointed lawyer they gave to my father not only does not defend him, but is someone the prosecutor himself put on the case. A real lawyer does not extort money from the client’s family. This lawyer asked us for 250 thousand dollars just to read 10 volumes of the case file. This is not a lawyer! What kind of defense does he want to provide for my father?”

According to his daughter, Mr. Sharmahd, at the time of his trip to Parkinson’s, suffered from heart disease and diabetes, and in telephone calls to his family said that “all of this has gotten worse and his weight has decreased.”

Ghazaleh Sharmahd emphasizes: “We are concerned about what pressure they are using to extract these lies and confessions from him. We do not know, and not knowing causes a person to think a thousand thoughts.”

In recent weeks, coinciding with JCPOA revival negotiations in Vienna, a group of former hostages and dual-nationality prisoners in Iran, by being present at the venue of Western countries’ talks with the Islamic Republic of Iran, went on a hunger strike in a campaign demanding the freedom of dual-nationality prisoners in Iran.

Source: Voice of America