Response to death sentence in Iran: Two Iranian diplomats expelled

The federal government has asked two members of the Iranian embassy to leave Germany. After yesterday’s death sentence against the German-Iranian Sharmahd, Foreign Minister Baerbock announced a “clear reaction”.

In reaction to the death sentence against the German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmahd, the Federal Foreign Office has declared two Iranian embassy employees undesirable. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) said they were “requested at short notice” to leave Germany.

Because of the death sentence, she also summoned the charge d’affaires of the Iranian embassy. “He was informed that we do not accept the massive violation of the rights of a German citizen,” said the minister. Baerbock added: “We call on Iran to revoke Jamshid Sharmahd’s death sentence and allow him a fair and due process of appeal.”

German-Iranian sentenced to death on terror charges

The minister had already announced on Tuesday that the imposition of the death penalty would “result in a clear reaction”. The Iranian judiciary had previously sentenced the 67-year-old to death on terrorism charges.

Iran announced Sharmahd’s arrest in August 2020. According to his family, the German-Iranian, who last lived in the USA, was kidnapped by the Iranian secret service during a stopover in Dubai and taken to Iran. His trial began in February 2022.

Sharmahd belongs to opposition group

In particular, the Iranian judiciary accuses Sharmahd of being involved in an attack on a mosque in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz in April 2008, which killed 14 people. The allegations cannot be verified.

Born in Tehran, Sharmahd grew up in Germany and emigrated to the United States in 2003. He belongs to the opposition group Tondar (English: Thunder), also known as the “Kingdom Assembly of Iran”. She rejects the political system of the Islamic Republic of Iran and supports the reintroduction of the monarchy in the country.