For Iranian dissidents, nowhere is safe

Last month, the Iranian regime claimed to have executed German-Iranian dissident Jamshid Sharmahd. Sharmahd, who was residing in the US, was abducted in 2020 and handed a death sentence last year for the false charge of ‘leading terror operations’.

Earlier this year, I had the privilege of interviewing Sharmahd’s daughter, Gazelle Sharmahd, as she campaigned to save her father. As we talked, she recounted – with unwavering resolve in her voice – the harrowing story of her father’s abduction and her family’s struggle to bring him home.

Sharmahd was a software engineer who was involved in creating and maintaining a website for Tondar, a little-known group that wants to overthrow the Islamic Republic that was established in the 1979 Revolution and restore the Iranian monarchy. In 2020, he was spirited away by Iranian agents while on a brief and unexpected Covid-enforced layover in Dubai. Gazelle told me of how his family tracked his phone as he was forced across the border to Oman, and of the cold horror that washed over them when his blindfolded face later appeared on Iranian state television. He was disoriented, clearly having been tortured, and was made to ‘confess’ to fabricated terror charges. This public spectacle marked the start of his brutal captivity.

Today, Gazelle and her family have no proof of Sharmahd’s death. They have no indication that the US or Germany have made any efforts to confirm the Iranian regime’s claims, nor secure the return of his body for a proper and respectful burial.

Sharmahd’s case, though profoundly unique in its sorrow, is part of a larger, disturbing pattern that the Iranian authorities have perfected over the years – the seizure of dual and foreign nationals to wield as pawns in global politics. Currently, at least 21 individuals like Sharmahd, often dual citizens with Western ties, are languishing in Iranian prisons on charges as spurious as ‘spreading corruption on Earth’ or espionage. These accusations rarely lead to a real trial, as detainees are often subjected to torture, isolation and public ‘confessions’, broadcast to intimidate any opposition to the Iranian regime. Figures like Ahmadreza Djalali – a Swedish-Iranian physician imprisoned and sentenced to death for ‘espionage’ – are held under similar charges, their lives precariously suspended amid the regime’s continued threats.

During our conversation, Gazelle spoke with both anger and heartbreak about this practice, which has escalated under the current Iranian government. Since the inception of the Iranian Islamic Republic in 1979, hostage-taking has been a grim staple of Iranian foreign policy. This began with the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, where 53 US diplomats and citizens were held captive for over a year.

Iran’s regime has now honed the tactic, snatching individuals at airports, through kidnappings or by covert means in international locations, as in Sharmahd’s case. Astonishingly, the international response to this has been completely inadequate. Western governments frequently issue condemnations or place sanctions on certain Iranian officials – Germany has shut all of its Iranian consulates in response to the news of Sharmahd’s execution. But these measures fall tragically short of actually deterring Iran’s continued practice of hostage diplomacy.

When I asked Gazelle what support she and her family had received from Western governments, her response was heartbreaking. She described her repeated attempts to secure help from both the US, where Sharmahd was a permanent resident, and Germany, of which he was a citizen. In response, her family faced either indifference or outright silence. It took an organised protest at the State Department to even bring her father’s case to official attention.

‘When your national is kidnapped and paraded on television’, she told me, ‘you expect your government to act – to condemn the act publicly, to demand his release’. Instead, her father’s life was relegated to political obscurity and Gazelle was left fighting alone for his freedom. She told me, visibly anguished, that every negotiated deal without Sharmahd only emboldened Tehran, setting the stage for Iran to continue and escalate its hostage-taking tactics without consequence.

The threat looms particularly large for dissidents in Iran. In the aftermath of the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini – an Iranian woman detained for ‘improperly’ wearing her hijab – the regime unleashed a reign of terror on domestic dissidents. Tens of thousands of protesters were arrested, including at least 40 foreign and dual nationals. Human-rights organisations estimate that thousands of political prisoners currently languish in Iranian prisons, subjected to appalling treatment. Prisons like Evin and Qarchak, notorious for their harsh conditions, are filled with journalists, activists and ordinary citizens targeted for criticising the regime. Amnesty International and the Center for Human Rights in Iran report that detainees suffer extreme abuse, from denial of medical treatment to forced isolation, intended to break their spirits and silence their voices permanently.

The international response to Iran’s hostage diplomacy, however, remains disjointed. Rather than confronting Iran as a unified bloc, most Western countries opt to negotiate individually for their citizens, thereby fragmenting any cohesive stance that could hold Iran accountable. This piecemeal approach leaves many detainees behind, as Western governments make isolated deals that reinforce Iran’s strategy, encouraging further hostage-taking rather than deterring it.

As I watched Gazelle advocate for her father’s life, her voice steadied by determination and grief, it was clear that her fight was about much more than her family. She was fighting for every dissident silenced within Iran’s borders, for every dual national taken hostage and for a world that has too often looked away. In her words: ‘If we do not act, we are all complicit. We must end this together, not just for my father, but for every voice they try to silence.’

Jonathan Sacerdoti is a broadcaster, journalist and TV producer.