Sunday, April 30, 2023

Iran rights chief decries EU position on death penalty against terrorist

TEHRAN- The European Union (EU) has come under fire for its interventionist remarks over confirmation of death sentence against Iranian-German terrorist mastermind Jamshid Sharmahd.

Kazem Gharibabadi, the secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, stated on his Twitter account on Saturday that “a terrorist Iranian national was supported in Europe and the United States.” He added that “Sharmahd has been given the death penalty in accordance with Iranian law.”

Gharibabadi also said that individuals who reject verdicts against Sharmahd have no mercy for the rights of terrorist victims.

He stated that the U.S. and the EU opted to support the terrorist rather than denounce his devilish crimes.

“This is the face of the Europe which purportedly protects human rights,” Gharibabadi pointed out.
 
The European Union declared in a statement on Friday that it “vigorously opposes” the death sentence given to Sharmahd in an interventionist stance.

Josep Borrell, the head of EU foreign policy, urged Tehran to spare Sharmahd from the death penalty in the statement.

Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for Sharmahd on charges of “corruption on earth”.

The court upheld a previous conviction against Sharmahd, issued by a lower court in February, for heading a pro-monarchist group accused of planning attacks across Iran, according to the judiciary’s official news website.

“In the appeal, there is no reason or proof that would create the grounds for dismissing the initial verdict, and the sentence of the convicted has been issued in accordance with the law based on presented evidence,” the Supreme Court said on Wednesday.

The 67-year-old, who also has United States residency and was arrested in 2020, has been charged of being the leader of the U.S.-based group Tondar (which means “thunder” in Farsi), which has said it seeks to restore the monarchy that was toppled in a 1979 revolution.

The main charge he faced was masterminding a 2008 bombing at a mosque in the southern city of Shiraz, which killed 14 people and wounded hundreds.

He has also been accused of planning a series of other attacks, including bombings and assassinations, in addition to passing information to U.S. and Israeli intelligence.

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