GLENDORA (CNS) - A 65-year-old Glendora man who belongs to an Iranian militant opposition group in exile has been kidnapped by Iran, his family told The Associated Press.
Jamshid Sharmahd was abducted while in Dubai, where he was hoping to arrange travel to India for a business deal involving his software company, according to his son. The date of the abduction was not clear.
The Islamic Republic accuses him of planning a 2008 attack on a mosque that killed 14 people and wounded over 200 others, as well as plotting other assaults through the little-known Kingdom Assembly of Iran and its Tondar militant wing.
“We're seeking support from any democratic country, any free country,'' his son Shayan Sharmahd told the AP. “It is a violation of human rights. You can't just pick someone up in a third country and drag them into your country.''
Sharmahd is also a German citizen, and was on track for U.S. citizenship after having lived here for years, his family said.
The U.S. State Department, which mistakenly referred to Sharmahd in an earlier report as an American citizen, acknowledged his arrest and said Iran “has a long history of detaining Iranians and foreign nationals on spurious charges,'' the AP reported.
His family insists that Sharmahd only served as a spokesman for the Kingdom Assembly of Iran and its Tondar militant wing and was not involved in any of the attacks.
Neither Iran's Intelligence Ministry nor its mission to the United Nations responded to the AP's requests for comment.
“He's very much at risk,'' his son said. “All of us are extremely concerned.''
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