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German-Iranian Djamshid Sharmahd has been sentenced to death in Iran in a controversial trial.

A revolutionary court in Tehran holds the 67-year-old responsible for, among other things, a terrorist attack, the justice portal Misan announced on Tuesday. The decision can be appealed to the Supreme Court.

The activist Sharmahd was reportedly arrested by the Iranian secret service in Dubai in the summer of 2020 and taken to Iran. He has been imprisoned in Tehran ever since. Sharmahd previously lived in the United States for many years. His family and human rights organizations have previously denied allegations against him.

Sharmahd was involved in the exile opposition group “Tondar” (Thunder) in the US, which advocates a return to monarchy. The Iranian judiciary holds the organization responsible for a 2008 attack on a mosque in the city of Shiras that killed several people. Three men have already been executed for it.

As an engineer and IT expert, Sharmahd also took part in a radio program of the group in exile. In 2019, the group’s website, which has since been taken down but is accessible in archive form, said the radio show aired content on politics and history, as well as instructions on how to resist. Tondar denounced the Islamic Republic’s persecution of its members.

It is unclear whether Sharmahd can receive consular assistance from the German embassy in Tehran. Iran legally treats dual nationals as Iranians. Amnesty International previously described the trial as a show trial.

Several European citizens are currently being held in Iran, many of whom also hold Iranian nationality. Critics accuse Iran of holding foreigners as political hostages. Tehran denies the allegations and usually justifies the arrests on espionage charges. (aeg/sda/dpa)