DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A senior member of a U.S.-based Iranian opposition group accused of orchestrating a lethal 2008 mosque bombing has been sentenced to dying in Iran, authorities mentioned Tuesday.

Iranian authorities say Jamshid Sharmahd, an Iranian-German nationwide and U.S. resident, is the chief of the armed wing of a gaggle advocating the restoration of the monarchy that was overthrown within the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

His household has mentioned he was merely the spokesman for the opposition group and accuses Iranian intelligence of abducting him from Dubai in 2020. His hometown is Glendora, California.

The dying sentence, which might be appealed, comes towards the backdrop of months of anti-government protests in Iran and a fierce crackdown on dissent. Monarchists primarily based exterior Iran help the protests, as do different teams and people with completely different ideologies.

The official web site of Iran’s judiciary mentioned he was convicted of plotting terrorist actions. He was tried in a Revolutionary Courtroom, the place proceedings are held behind closed doorways and the place rights teams say defendants are denied due course of.

Iranian authorities have accused him of planning a collection of assaults, together with the mosque bombing, through which 14 individuals have been killed and greater than 200 have been wounded. He has additionally been accused of working with U.S. intelligence and spying on Iran’s ballistic missile program.