human rights
EU calls for the death sentence against German-Iranians to be lifted
Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence against German-Iranian Djamshid Sharmahd. photo
© Koosha Falahi/Mizan/dpa/dpa
The Iranian judiciary had blamed Djamshid Sharmahd for a terrorist attack and sentenced him to death. The EU sharply criticized the decision. CDU leader Merz is also upset.
The European Union has asked the Iranian judiciary to lift the death sentence against the German-Iranian Djamshid Sharmahd. A statement said the EU strongly condemned the Iranian Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Sharmahd’s death sentence. Iran must refrain from carrying out the death penalty and overturn the sentence. Sharmahd has been in detention since 2020.
Iran’s Supreme Court upheld Sharmahd’s controversial death sentence on Wednesday. As a result, nothing formally stands in the way of the enforcement of the judgment. A revolutionary court held the 68-year-old responsible for a terrorist attack in February. Family members and human rights activists described the allegations as unfounded and criticized the procedure as grossly unfair.
Merz: Visa application was never approved
CDU leader Friedrich Merz told the “Bild” that he had applied for a visa at the Iranian embassy in Berlin several weeks ago in order to be able to get an idea of Shamahd’s prison conditions and his state of health on site. “My application has not been approved to date. That is completely unacceptable,” said Merz. “I call on the Iranian government again to lift the wrongful conviction against Djamshid Sharmahd and to allow him to travel to Germany.”
On Thursday, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) again called on Iran to reverse the “absolutely unacceptable” and arbitrary verdict. The 68-year-old had never received the approach of a fair trial.
Sharmad came to Germany with his parents as a child and has a German passport. However, he was born in Tehran and thus automatically has Iranian citizenship. According to Iranian law, this cannot be taken off.