Sharmahd's daughter, Gazelle, told Fox News in August 2023 that the Iranian regime was "scapegoating an innocent man" over the bombing allegations, telling the network: "My dad chose the United States as his home, worked hard, followed all the rules, belongs to a family of four generations around him of US citizenship, lived here for 20 years as a taxpaying, law-abiding resident and would already have his citizenship if it wasn't for the terrorists and qualifies as a US national under the Levinson law."
Jamshid Sharmahd was a German citizen but chose California as his home and "qualifies as a US national under the Levinson law," his daughter said. The German government could not secure his release and the Biden administration faced criticism for abandoning Sharmahd and giving control of his case to Germany.
Sharmahd previously survived an assassination attempt in California. The Iranian agent involved was later convicted of a planned murder. The journalist was then kidnapped by the Iranian regime in Dubai in 2020 after the regime's controversial justice system claimed that Sharmahd had a role in the 2008 terrorist attack at a mosque in Shiraz, which left more than 200 people injured and 14 dead. However, Iranian national security officials determined at the time that "the explosion of a bomb or any explosion carried out by opposition elements, be they internal or foreign, is ruled out" and that the "blast was caused by some munitions used in an exhibition for the Iran-Iraq War martyrs in the mosque," as per a past report from Iranian regime-controlled Fars News media.
The journalist was convicted of "corruption on earth," a charge that British Human rights group Amnesty International said is "not clearly defined in law and as such contravenes the principle of legality," adding that his trial was "grossly unfair."
"Since July 2020, the Iranian authorities have been subjecting him to enforced disappearance, torture, and other ill-treatment, including through prolonged solitary confinement and denial of adequate health care," the human rights group said, as per the network.
Iranian-American human rights activist and expert on the Tehran regime, Lawdan Bazargan, told Fox News that Sharmahd was an innocent victim executed as revenge for the regime's failures against Israel and the deaths of Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists. She warned that "more innocent Iranian prisoners will be killed."
The White House has not yet commented on the matter.
