America and Germany Must Act Decisively to Secure the Release of Their Hostages in Iran

Ms. gazelle Sharmahd, RN, BSN.

Daughter of Jimmy Sharmahd from California, a hostage in Iran

Jimmy Sharmahd Facing Death Sentence in Iran, Needs Urgent Action
The #SaveSharmahd Campaign

On Monday, March 11th, 2024, the Islamic regime in Iran released a press article in their state controlled media and TV stating that Jamshid Sharmahd, together with the US government, were charged with alleged “terror plots” and fined 2.478 billion dollars to the regime as reparations and as a “penalty.” At the same time, the articles emphasize that Mr. Sharmahd, or Jimmy as we call him, has been sentenced to death and that his death sentence is upheld.

​Once again, the regime is using lies and propaganda to extort concessions from Western powers, using innocent Western nationals and trying to silence critics of the regime and their families with fear of murder. Though, this is he first time that the Islamic regime is sentencing and fining an entire government extending their propaganda from dissidents onto the administration.

Gazelle Sharmahd was on Capitol Hill this week meeting with US lawmakers to discuss her dad's case and plead for more assistance from the US and German governments.

Fabricated charges against critics
As with prior kangaroo courts, the regime uses fabricated charges without a shred of evidence against regime critic and software engineer Jamshid Sharmahd. He developed a highly secure website for the people of Iran to give them an outlet to have their voices heard by the world. Mr Sharmahd is a man of science and information, not a terrorist. The same way, thousands of innocent activists inside of Iran are set up by the regime, like Mojahed KourKour, who is falsely accused of murdering 9-year old Kian Pirflak, while his family and Kian’s family state that the real perpetrators were members of the regime.

But the issue is even more complicated and sinister than just false accusations and a crooked legal system devoid of the rule of law. This is at least the second time Jamshid Sharmahd has been the victim of transnational terrorism. In 2009, after receiving death threats to take down Jimmy’s website, the regime sent assassins to murder him on US soil. The FBI foiled the plot and saved Jimmy’s life.

In 2020, Jimmy became the victim of an international kidnapping plot, where the regime of the islamic Republic of Iran snatched him during a flight overlay and took him through two state borders into Iran, where they are holding him hostage for 3.5 years. This is not an isolated incident.

We can see the assassination of hundreds of dissidents all over the globe, assassination and kidnapping plots against US and European officials, and of course the kidnapping and hostage crisis of more than 250 people from Israel by terror proxy Hamas into Gaza. That is on top of hundreds of European and American nationals that have been held hostage by the regime inside of Iran in the last decades. Many like Jimmy are still held there up until today.

Failure to respond by US and European governments

Unfortunately, the US and European governments have failed to respond adequately to these threats and have put their citizens’ lives in great danger. This is going to keep happening unless the democratic governments work together to put a stop to it. The first and crucial step is to unconditionally secure the release of all innocent foreigners held hostage by the regime, and red lines be set as part of this process so that this never happens again. The lack of focused action by the United States, Germany and other democratic countries has failed to stop transnational terrorism of the Islamic Regime and nations, who support them.

The Sharmahd family and the #SaveSharmahd campaign - an international effort to secure the unconditional release of Mr. Sharmahd and raise awareness of Iran's transnational crimes - has pleaded for over three years to German and US officials to respond appropriately. Still, the traction has seemed minimal to effectively none.

Strategies to stop hostage diplomacy

Yet we have not been still. The family of Jimmy has filed a lawsuit in Germany against the Islamic regime for crimes against Jimmy and crimes against humanity in the case of the recent revolutionary uprising. They have built a case through the United Nation’s Working Group of Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), which in fall 2022 determined that Jimmy Sharmahd is innocent, kidnapped, arbitrarily detained, tortured and must be released back home. The family and campaign have also for years advocated for either a european or even a global task force to find strategies to not only save the hostages but to stop the inhumane business of hostage diplomacy.

At this moment Jimmy is spending more than 1300 days and nights in a torture chamber at an unknown location inside of Iran. He has been completely isolated, without human contact, phone calls or proper medical attention. His teeth have been knocked out, with untreated advanced-stage Parkinson’s disease, severe chest pain, and shortness of breath. Even if he is strong enough and does not go into complete heart failure the regime is threatening to hang him to death. We are not naive in thinking this is a bluff.

A kidnapped Swedish national, who was executed last year, a kidnapped French blogger, who was executed 3 years ago, and the latest sudden death of Alexei Navalny are sobering proof that such terrorist regimes does not bluff when it comes to forcefully silencing critics.

If our governments had not failed in responding to the increasing transnational terror plots on Jimmy and others, we would not be finding ourselves in this desperate situation today where Jimmy and his family are facing the abyss, and his life is hanging by a straw. The Sharmahd family and legal team have requested to speak to US authorities and German authorities, and the #SaveSharmahd campaign is standing by their side to ask the responsible administrations to do their job and protect their people from torture and planned execution!

Demands to the United States Administration and the German Federal Government.

1. We expect both the United States and Germany to ask the Islamic Regime in Iran to demand the immediate release of Jamshid Sharmahd, German and American dual national, in addition to overturning of the death sentence, issued by a "regime court."
2. Both the US Administration and the German Government should immediately initiate sovereign measures regarding the Islamic Republic including  stopping all payments and financial transfers  to Iran, withdrawing landing permits from Iranian airlines and closing Iranian banks until Jamshid Sharmahd is completely free.

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