My dad has been left behind as a hostage in Iran by the Biden administration.
The regime in Tehran just lately agreed to launch 5 Iranian-American hostages in change for $16 billion of its frozen property at present off limits as a result of ongoing American sanctions.
But my father, Jamshid (Jimmy) Sharmahd, has not been chosen to return house — despite the fact that he has lived in America for the final 20 years and is a US nationwide.
Based on the State Division deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel, my father will stay caught in an Iranian jail — disregarded of the present negotiations between Tehran and Washington — as a result of he’s a German citizen.
However that doesn’t make sense on condition that my father can be a US nationwide — each by essence and by legislation. As a everlasting resident of the US, the Levinson Act mandates that he be included as one of many launched hostages. The White Home should make each effort to deliver him house.
So why is the Biden administration leaving my dad behind when he’s the one hostage who faces an imminent execution?
My father moved to the USA some 20 years in the past and constructed life for himself and his household. A resident of California, he labored onerous as a software program engineer, paid taxes, and tirelessly advocated for the liberty of the Iranian folks.
As a part of his advocacy, my father developed an internet platform detailing the regime’s crimes and human rights abuses which turned a thorn within the eyes of the ruling theocracy. Unsurprisingly, my dad emerged as a key goal of repeated loss of life threats and in 2009, brokers of the regime tried to rent a hitman and have him assassinated.
A decade later, in 2020, Jimmy was kidnapped whereas transiting by Dubai within the United Arab Emirates and brought to Iran.
Since then, he has been held in solitary confinement for greater than 1,000 days in an unknown jail the place, in accordance with Amnesty Worldwide, he’s been repeatedly tortured and continuously robbed of his rights.
Charged with the nebulous-sounding “corruption on Earth,” he was condemned to loss of life in a sham trial with out due course of or customary authorized illustration. What awaits him now’s public execution by hanging from a crane.
The shortage of humanity and justice is to be anticipated from one of the crucial oppressive regimes on earth. However the response from my very own authorities in Washington is what actually breaks my coronary heart.
The Biden administration is paying $16 billion in ransom for the discharge of the hostages, however the White Home is working away from its duty for my father. Neither President Biden nor Secretary of State Antony Blinken has ever said his title publicly or proven compassion to the household my father left behind in America.
The White Home says it’s not answerable for my dad since he’s not a US citizen. This isn’t simply morally improper — but in addition legally incorrect.
My dad enjoys German citizenship however — as a everlasting US resident — can be a US nationwide underneath the Levinson Act and should be protected by the US particular presidential envoy for hostage affairs. Which means that the US and German governments are compelled to work collectively to collectively safe his launch, as a substitute of denying duty and taking part in ping-pong along with his life (Germany has even refused to name my father what he’s – a hostage in Iran).
Jimmy would have been capable of grow to be a citizen if he had not been kidnapped and imprisoned. Each single member of his household has accomplished so – a complete of 4 generations of Sharmahds who are actually US residents. What does it say in regards to the Biden administration’s ethical values when it claims my father is just not American sufficient to cease enduring terror, torture, and sure execution?
My dad has at all times believed that America stands for freedom and justice, however he has been deserted by these he trusted most — his personal authorities. He’s nearly 70 years previous, can barely stroll, and suffers from superior Parkinson’s Illness, however he refuses to surrender hope in the USA.
I used to be just lately capable of communicate to him on the cellphone for the primary time in two years of wrongful detention. He advised me “I nonetheless have hope in America. Solely the American authorities can save my life.”
However no assist from the Biden administration appears to be coming. It breaks my coronary heart that my dad might by no means be along with his household once more, to fulfill my new child daughter — who’s now a fourth-generation US citizen — or see his mom, a late-in-life American who’s terrified that her son can be executed.
President Biden and Secretary Blinken, there aren’t any do-overs as soon as an harmless life is taken. So I ask you, will you save my dad from these hostage-takers, or will you permit him behind to die in Iran?
Gazelle Sharmahd is a Los Angeles-based activist, crucial care nurse and the daughter of German-American kidnapped hostage Jamshid Sharmahd.
