Iranian-German Jamshid Sharmahd has been executed in Iran after being convicted on terrorism charges last year, the country's judiciary said on Monday.
Mr Sharmahd held US residency and lived in Glendora, California, before his arrest in 2020. He was accused of sharing information on missile launch sites of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and planning attacks including a 2008 bombing on a mosque that killed 14 people and wounded more than 200.
He was sentenced to death in February last year after being found guilty of planning and directing terrorist acts through the US-based Kingdom Assembly of Iran and its Tondar militant wing. The Kingdom Assembly of Iran runs opposition media outlets abroad.
“Without a doubt, the divine promise regarding the supporters of terrorism will be fulfilled, and this is a definite promise,” the judiciary's Mizan news agency said, in reference to his execution.
Mr Sharmahd's family denied the allegations and are yet to comment on his death. His daughter, Gazelle Sharmahd, told The National in September last year that the US had left her father to die in a deal under which five American citizens were freed from Iranian detention in exchange for the unfreezing of $6 billion of Iranian oil money.
“Our government has failed to explain that when you release an unprecedented amount of money for a few hostages, what do you plan to do now to free the ones you abandon in this negotiation?” Gazelle Sharmahd said then. “How do you ensure my dad will be safe and alive and not murdered now?
Speaking after the five US citizens, detained for years in Iran, were freed and flown to Doha, she said her father had been “left behind to die” by President Joe Biden.
German MP Ulrich Lechte wrote on X: “If it is confirmed that Jamshid Sharmahd was executed, then that is a catastrophe. A murder of a German citizen – convicted in a show trial. I am extremely sorry and angry that we did not do more to get him released.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said: "We have repeatedly made it clear to Tehran that the execution of a German citizen will have serious consequences.
"The killing of Jamshid Sharmahd shows once again what an inhumane regime prevails in Tehran: A regime that uses death against its youth, against its own population and against foreign nationals. This underlines that obviously no one is safe, even under the new government."
Amnesty International said the proceedings against Mr Sharmahd had been a “grossly unfair trial” because he had been denied access to an independent lawyer and “the right to defend himself”.
Gazelle Sharmahd said last year that her father, and at least two others who hold either US citizenship or residency, were “ruthlessly left behind” by the US government.
“Jimmy is on death row and the sentence may be carried out if the regime deems it politically expedient,” she said.
“I am happy for the freedom of every unjustly detained, but my happiness is overshadowed by the immense amount of injustice and threat this negotiation has brought upon the … dozens of other hostages that were left behind."
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group H
Juventus v Valencia, Tuesday, midnight (UAE)
Florida: The critical Sunshine State
Though mostly conservative, Florida is usually always “close” in presidential elections. In most elections, the candidate that wins the Sunshine State almost always wins the election, as evidenced in 2016 when Trump took Florida, a state which has not had a democratic governor since 1991.
Joe Biden’s campaign has spent $100 million there to turn things around, understandable given the state’s crucial 29 electoral votes.
In 2016, Mr Trump’s democratic rival Hillary Clinton paid frequent visits to Florida though analysts concluded that she failed to appeal towards middle-class voters, whom Barack Obama won over in the previous election.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Day 1 results:
Open Men (bonus points in brackets)
New Zealand 125 (1) beat UAE 111 (3)
India 111 (4) beat Singapore 75 (0)
South Africa 66 (2) beat Sri Lanka 57 (2)
Australia 126 (4) beat Malaysia -16 (0)
Open Women
New Zealand 64 (2) beat South Africa 57 (2)
England 69 (3) beat UAE 63 (1)
Australia 124 (4) beat UAE 23 (0)
New Zealand 74 (2) beat England 55 (2)
