Iran threatens to execute Californian journalist: "Death sentence is certain"

Journalist Jamshid Sharmahd could be executed in Iran, his daughter Gazelle has warned. The California-based professional worked for a local radio station exposing Iranians' dissatisfaction with the theocratic regime in Tehran. His family claims he was allegedly kidnapped by regime forces during a Dubai sojourn in 2020.

"My father created a website where activists could publish articles, and he talked about it on his radio program", Gazelle has explained.

France 24 published in February that Sharmahd got involved with an opposition group known as the Assembly of the Kingdom of Iran and designed its website. A software glitch a decade ago exposed his work with the group. From that point on, he became a target for Iranian propaganda with coverage on state television, and was the victim of a plot to assassinate him in 2009.

Gazelle reported on Fox News that a lawyer for the Iranian regime warned the family, "The death sentence is certain". Sharmahd's daughter also detailed that a sixth hearing of her father's "mock trial" could take place as early as this week, and that the authorities have not allowed an independent lawyer to represent him.

Tehran claims that Sharmahd was involved in a 2008 terrorist attack on a mosque in the town of Shiraz that left 14 dead and more than 200 wounded. Gazelle asserted that the trial was designed to "persecute dissidents and activists."

Jamshid Sharmahd holds German citizenship. However, his daughter lamented, "I see no real action from Germany. If Germany wants to rescue my father, it can. It has the resources".

Gazelle has started a collection of signatures to present to Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, to save the journalist's life.