A German-Iranian dissident facing the threat of the death penalty in Tehran has been allowed to call his family from solitary confinement for the first time in seven months, his family said on Friday.
Jamshid Sharmahd has been kept in isolation at a secret location since he was snatched by Iranian agents while travelling to India in August 2020, they said.
His family believe a growing public campaign, greater efforts by the German government to secure his release and the near conclusion of talks about resuming the 2015 nuclear deal in Vienna all contributed to persuading the Iranian authorities to let him call his family.
Mr Sharmahd, a US-based critic of the regime, has been accused of involvement in a 2008 mosque bombing in Iran that killed 14 people. He has denied any involvement in the attack but is currently standing trial without independent legal representation.
He has a variety of health problems and has been left with only two teeth, he told his wife in a telephone call lasting a few minutes on his 67th birthday this week.
“We don’t know if they knocked his teeth out or they fell out because he was not getting any sunlight or vitamins,” his daughter Gazelle Sharmahd said from the US.
He told his wife during the short call this week that he had been interrogated daily and forced to sign documents. His family do not know where he is being held and he warned them that if they asked any questions, he would have to hang up.
The software engineer complained of high blood pressure, shortness of breath and difficulties walking because of the lack of space to exercise in his tiny cell.
He said he was not receiving his medicine on time, a similar complaint to other dual citizens held in Iran. He needs medicine every three hours for Parkinson’s disease.
“His voice was very, very weak,” said his daughter. “I’m very afraid for my dad’s health even if they don’t give him the death sentence.”
Mr Sharmahd built the website for the Kingdom Assembly of Iran — or Tondar — a US-based group that sought the overthrow of the Iranian regime and replacement with the monarchy.
The group claimed responsibility of the 2008 mosque attack on the website. Iran claims Mr Sharmahd headed its militant wing but his family say he has never been involved in terrorism.
Mr Sharmahd was previously targeted in a 2009 assassination plot at his home in California, but the plot was foiled when a member of the team confessed to police.
An Iranian government agent later pleaded guilty to paying a hitman $32,000 to kill Mr Sharmahd.
His family have pinned their hopes on him being released as a condition of the US resuming the 2015 nuclear deal. The US said this week there were only a small number of issues outstanding before an agreement could be wrapped up.
Some 20 foreign and dual citizen prisoners — including from the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Sweden and Austria — are held in Iran, most detained while visiting family or conducting business. Most have been jailed on national security charges that their governments say are fabricated.
Human rights group Amnesty International said Mr Sharmahd was at risk from a “grossly unfair trial” and had been detained in circumstances “akin to enforced disappearance”.
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
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The National will broadcast live from the IMF on Friday October 13 at 7pm UAE time (3pm GMT) as our Editor-in-Chief Mina Al-Oraibi moderates a panel on how technology can help growth in MENA.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
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Power: Combined output 920hp
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Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
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if you go
The flights
Air Astana flies direct from Dubai to Almaty from Dh2,440 per person return, and to Astana (via Almaty) from Dh2,930 return, both including taxes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Almaty cost from Dh1,944 per night including taxes; and in Astana the new Ritz-Carlton Astana (www.marriott) costs from Dh1,325; alternatively, the new St Regis Astana costs from Dh1,458 per night including taxes.
When to visit
March-May and September-November
Visas
Citizens of many countries, including the UAE do not need a visa to enter Kazakhstan for up to 30 days. Contact the nearest Kazakhstan embassy or consulate.
The specs
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