Gazelle Sharmahd, daughter of a dual-nationality prisoner on death row in Iran, has urged a bipartisan hearing in Congress to ensure her father’s release while criticizing disgraced Iran Envoy Robert Malley.
“Mr Malley and his colleagues negotiated the release of several Americans last summer and, without explanation, excluded my father. Our family asked why in hell would we leave the one American hostage in Iran on death row defenselessly in the hands of his kidnappers and tormentors; there was zero response,” she said on Tuesday.
“Our family has been disappointed by our State Department officials, particularly the former Iran Envoy Robert Malley, whose tenure has failed to address my father’s critical situation for three years,” Sharmahd told lawmakers at the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation.
Malley was quietly removed from his duties last April as first reported by Iran International, apparently for mishandling restricted information, but the Biden administration has so far refused to disclose any details.
A 69-year-old California resident, Jamsjid Sharmahd was abducted by Iranian agents in 2020 while visiting the United Arab Emirates. He was sentenced to death by the Iranian judiciary on charges of endangering national security in February 2023, a verdict that was upheld by the Supreme Court of Iran.
The defendant was convicted of leading a pro-monarchist group known as Tondar that was responsible for a deadly bombing incident that occurred in 2008 at a religious center in Shiraz, killing 14 and injuring 215 others. For the bombing, however, suspects had already been arrested and convicted years before.
The charges are, however, denied by Sharmahd and his family, and Iran provides no evidence to back up its accusations. Amnesty International has blasted the trial as a sham.
“When the Islamic regime showcased the international kidnapping of an American by parading my father on their National TV blindfolded with a swollen face forced to confessions, there was zero response from the US,” Sharmahd told the House subcommittee.
In an interview with Iran International on Tuesday, Sharmahd blamed the State Department’s Iran team for enabling the Iranian regime after last year saw five hostages released for a total of $6bn in released Iranian funds from South Korea. “The regime is putting price tags on people’s lives,” she told Iran International host Fardad Farahzad.
Sharmahd claimed that the regime, “instead of asking the [western] governments directly, talks to the families of hostages and tells them what they want, so they don’t have to admit officially they’re hostage takers.”
She added, “For my father’s release, they sought talks with German authorities, the release of Asadollah Assadi [an Iranian diplomat convicted of terrorism], and billions of dollars.” In March, Iran demanded $2.5 billion for his release.
Since coming to power, the Biden administration has been accused of enabling the Iranian regime in its emboldened hostage taking policy which has seen the likes of European diplomats taken hostage on false allegations. Its soft approach has also seen Iran only enhance nuclear enrichment in the face of international sanctions and maritime seizures continue, as the US refuses to take direct action against the regime.
