German national’s body returned after death in Iran prison, daughter told

German authorities have told Gazelle Sharmahd that the body of her father, Jamshid Sharmahd, has been returned to Germany after his death in an Iranian prison while awaiting execution, she told Iran International.

An autopsy was still required to confirm his identity, she said.

"Once that happens, we can say with certainty that it is my father," she said, adding that the next step would be legal action against Iranian authorities in Germany.

On October 28 last year, Iran's judiciary website Mizan announced that Sharmahd was executed. However, a week later on Nov 5, the judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said that Sharmahd died of a stroke before his scheduled execution.

Sharmahd was abducted by Iranian agents during a visit to the United Arab Emirates in 2020 and forcibly taken to Iran. In February 2023, the Iranian judiciary sentenced him to death on charges of endangering national security.

Sharmahd was convicted of heading a pro-monarchist group named Tondar accused of a deadly bombing incident that occurred in 2008 at a religious center in Shiraz, killing 14 and injuring 215 more. The accusation, which Sharmahd repeatedly denied, was never substantiated by documented evidence.

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In her interview with Iran International on Friday, Gazelle Sharmahd linked the return of her father's body to Berlin’s broader dealings with Tehran, pointing to Germany’s role in barring exiled Iranian prince Reza Pahlavi from a Munich Security Conference.

"It is very clear that these two events that happened yesterday are completely connected. Germany has essentially become a servant of the Islamic Republic," she said.

"Orders come from Tehran, and in one day, they say, ‘Yes, we will return your hostage, but we will return him as a corpse.’ On the same day, another order comes, saying, ‘Yes, you can bring him to Germany, but no one is allowed to speak about it.’ And then Reza Pahlavi is removed from the Munich Security Conference," she said.

She accused Berlin of complying with Iran’s demands to suppress opposition voices. "These actions are different methods used to silence the voice of the Iranian people," she said, adding that Germany is helping Iran silence its critics.