Jamshid

Ever since I was a child, I longed for a United States passport. A magical booklet that would let me travel anywhere in the world. A pocket-sized document that, as I believed as a child, would protect me from harm. In Iran, where I grew up, voicing such a wish was taboo, if not heretical. I was Iranian; such dreams were impossible. The U.S. passport is not an amulet, of course. But being American does grant us rights and freedoms even the European mind cannot fathom. The United States government, famously, is by the people, for the people. What does it mean when the U.S. no longer protects its persons? What happens then?

Flash forward two decades: soon I will celebrate my freedom, my being in America for eight years. For these past eight years I have not stepped one foot outside this country. I have watched friends travel around the world on glamorous vacations while I remained behind, confined to these United States.

But don’t pity me. I am more than happy to enjoy my freedom here than risk it for the chance to stand atop the Eiffel Tower. Why? Jamshid Sharmad. Jamshid was a strong voice opposing the Islamic regime. He was a leader of Tondar, a small group of exiled Iranians who advocate for the fall of the regime and a return of the monarchy. Because of his anti-regime activities, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, executed him. The fate of poor Jamshid Sharmahd could easily be my own. His execution not only reaffirms my personal existential fears but also highlights a failure in the West—a failure that has been occurring more frequently.

The Islamic regime in Iran abducted Jamshid—a German and Iranian citizen, with permanent residency to the United States—from Dubai in 2020. They accused him of facilitating the bombing of a mosque in 2008. What followed was their typical Orwelian playbook: they orchestrated sham trials, did not allow Jamshid to contact the German embassy, denied him due process, charged him with “corruption on Earth,” and held him in solitary confinement for over 1300 days before executing him on October 28, 2024.

For four years, Jamshid’s daughter Gazelle, a human rights activist herself, met with German and American officials. She spoke at various events advocating for the release of her father. But in the end, her efforts fell on deaf ears. In response to Jamshid’s execution, the Department of State issued a weak statement through X and a press briefing, omitting his status as a Permanent Resident of the United States.

The German authorities failed to protect their citizen.

The U.S. government failed to protect its Permanent Resident.

And unfortunately, Jamshid is not the first Western victim. He is only one of the most recent ones. The Islamic regime has an algorithm they follow to great success. They capture dissidents while abroad. They accuse them of spurious crimes. They jail them (without due process). They torture them. Sometimes the torture leads to a forced confession. And then, either the falsely imprisoned are bargaining chips used by the regime, or they are executed. 

The U.S. has been on the wrong track appeasing authoritarian regimes. Allowing this pattern of kidnap, torture, forced confession, and execution of U.S. persons without consequence only emboldens the Islamic regime. The Democratic Administrations’ track records of abandoning U.S. citizens further strains their relationship with Iranian-Americans. With a new Administration beginning next year as a result of the election, I hope America’s policies towards Iran do not play into Khamenei’s hand. Making deals with the regime strengthens their grip on terror. The Islamic regime will continue their sick game of falsely imprisoning political dissidents if America is too weak to deter them.

Jamshid‘s fate should shock every Iranian dissident and free-thinking individual—those of us who hope and fight for a free Iran. But it should not frighten us from speaking out against the Islamic regime. Similarly, America’s failure to save Jamshid should not deter our efforts. Rather, with the results of this recent election, let us commit to fortifying America’s leadership of the free world.

Let us bring back the value that comes with holding a U.S. passport.