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Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced on Wednesday that the federal government was doing everything it could to support Sharmahd and try to prevent the execution. According to Amnesty International, this is the first death sentence against a German citizen in Iran that could be carried out within weeks.
Convicted of terrorism charges
Sharmahd, 68, was found guilty in February in Tehran of alleged involvement in an April 2008 attack on a mosque in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz and sentenced to death. The Iranian judiciary also accuses Sharmahd of maintaining contacts with foreign secret services. The Supreme Court in Iran has now upheld the verdict that measures for the execution of Sharmahd on terror charges “should be taken,” a judicial spokesman in Tehran said.
The State Department said it had received the news of the death sentence “with dismay”. Baerbock wrote on Twitter: “In Berlin and Tehran, we are doing everything we can for Mr. Sharmahd and against the execution of the sentence.” The German ambassador to Iran has “immediately canceled a business trip and is on his way back to Tehran to intervene with the Iranian authorities”. The verdict was “arbitrary” and “unacceptable”. “Jamshid Sharmahd has never had a due process approach.”
According to his family, the opposition figure, who last lived in the United States for many years, was abducted to Iran by the Iranian secret service in 2020 during a stopover in Dubai. Sharmahd is said to have led the Tondar (Thunder) opposition group, which is working to overthrow the Islamist leadership in Tehran and is classified as a “terrorist organization” in Iran.
diplomatic consequences
According to human rights organization Amnesty International, it is the first death penalty against a German citizen in Iran. Amnesty called the verdict “deeply inhumane and cruel” and called for “clear and discernible diplomatic consequences” from the federal government. After the verdict in February, Berlin had already expelled two Iranian diplomats, and Tehran responded by expelling two German diplomats.
At least 16 Westerners are currently being held in Iran. Most of them also hold Iranian citizenship. However, Iran does not recognize dual citizenship and treats those arrested as Iranians.
In January, Iran sparked international outrage with the execution of former British-Iranian politician Alireza Akbari, who had been convicted of alleged espionage. According to Amnesty, three death sentences have been carried out in Iran in the recent past, just one to two weeks after the sentence was confirmed.
The chairman of the human rights commission in the Bundestag, Renata Alt (FDP), called for Sharmahd’s execution to be prevented. There must be no more cooperation with a “regime that abducts a German citizen from a third country, keeps him in solitary confinement for years, tortures him and sentences him to death without his own counsel”. CDU leader Friedrich Merz was also “deeply shocked” on Twitter, calling on Iran to “immediately allow Sharmad to leave Germany for his homeland”.
No agreement on prisoner exchange with Belgium
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the judiciary in Iran reported on Wednesday that a prisoner exchange with Belgium had been “decided and terminated”. Development worker Olivier Vandecasteele was sentenced in Iran to 40 years in prison and 74 lashes after being charged with espionage. The Belgian’s family complained that he was in solitary confinement despite “serious health problems”. According to Iranian statements, he should be replaced by Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Belgium for allegedly planning a bombing at an event held by Iranian opposition members near Paris in 2018.
A government representative in Brussels immediately denied to AFP that an agreement on an exchange had been reached. Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne also denied this via Twitter, saying that Iran wanted to “create confusion” in a “very sensitive” case.
(AFP)
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
