German lawyers file criminal charges against Iranian judges

Gazelle Sharmahd and the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) are hoping to force German federal prosecutors to investigate the alleged kidnapping and torture of dissident Jamshid Sharmahd in Iran, following years of frustration over inaction by the German government.

Jamshid Sharmahd, who is believed to have been abducted by Iranian security forces in Dubai in 2020, was condemned to death by an Iranian court earlier this year on charges of "corruption on Earth" in connection with an alleged terrorist bombing in Shiraz in 2008.

Sharmahd, who lived in the US since 2003, denied any involvement with the bombing, and a video confession released by the Iranian government is believed to have been forced. Amnesty International has called his trial "grossly unfair," saying that he has been denied the right to independent defense, and has been mistreated in custody.

Amnesty International said that Sharmahd was targeted because he created a website for an opposition collective that advocates for an end to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The ECCHR lawyers who support his daughter say that since he is a German citizen, the German judiciary is obliged to investigate Sharmahd's case and could issue international arrest warrants against the eight individuals named in the charges. These men include the Iranian chief state prosecutor, the head of Iran's intelligence agencies at the time of Sharmahd's abduction and several top-ranking judges.

Solitary confinement and torture

Speaking via video link from the US at an ECCHR press conference in Berlin on Wednesday (June 21), Gazelle Sharmahd said that she had not had contact with her 68-year-old father for more than two years.

"We know that he has been in solitary confinement for over 1,000 days — that alone breaks all basic rights," she said. "We know that all his rights have been taken away from him in that time. He doesn't know what is happening in the outside world, in Germany. He doesn't know what we're doing for him right now."

Sharmahd has been granted three brief phone calls with his family since his arrest, during which he said that he had been tortured, that he had lost all but two of his teeth, and that he had no access to the medication to treat his Parkinson's disease, resulting in severe pains in his chest and limbs.

"He's in a situation in which he could have a heart attack any day, and he could die," said Gazelle Sharmahd. "Every second counts. And I have to say I am very disappointed with the German government. All the efforts at applying pressure came much too late or not at all. One thing I know is that every time the public looks in that direction, the regime at least hesitates."

DW has contacted the German Justice Ministry for comment on the case.

Legal instruments

ECCHR insists that the German judiciary has more levers at its disposal than it is currently using. "German international criminal law is especially well-suited to investigate such crimes," said ECCHR General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck. Should German prosecutors file arrest warrants, there is a chance that those accused by Sharmahd could be brought to Germany.

"We hope that the German state prosecutors will start an investigation relatively quickly, and then the big question is: What happens then?" said Kaleck. "We don't know when the people we have identified as potentially accused might travel — but we know that they do travel. And they don't know which countries have what kind of legal agreements with Germany."

"A lot could happen," he added. "It could happen that Germany talks to Venezuela, or Colombia, or Mexico, or Tunisia and says: 'We know that this or that person from Iran, who is suspected of being involved in this crime, is in your country and is not protected by immunity."

There is also precedent for such cases. German courts last year convicted former members of the Syrian secret police for facilitating the torture of prisoners in Syria.

Gilda Sahebi, a German-Iranian journalist and doctor, said it was sad that individuals like Gazelle Sharmahd had been forced to campaign on behalf of their loved ones. "The German government hasn't even described him as a political prisoner yet, as France, for example, does when its own citizens are detained," she said. "I think the only way that anything can change is if there are consequences."

Edited by: Rina Goldenberg

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