At the end of February, the German-Iranian Sharmahd was sentenced to death. The Supreme Court of Iran has now confirmed this in the last instance. Secretary of State Baerbock demanded that the decision be reversed.
Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld the controversial death sentence against German-Iranian Djamshid Sharmahd. Justice spokesman Massoud Setayeschi said. It is not yet known when the death penalty will be carried out.
A revolutionary court held the 68-year-old responsible for a terrorist attack in February that killed 14 people. The court also charged him with cooperation with foreign secret services. He is said to have been in contact with FBI and CIA agents and tried to establish contacts with the Israeli secret service Mossad.
German politicians are outraged
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called the court’s decision unacceptable and called on Iran via Twitter to “immediately reverse the arbitrary verdict”.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz, who had taken over Sharmahd’s political sponsorship, was shocked on Twitter. “I call on the regime in Iran again to allow Jamshid Sharmahd to leave Germany for his home country immediately!” he wrote.
The International Society for Human Rights (IGFM) called on the federal government to prevent the “planned state murder”. Amnesty International (AI) called for “clear and noticeable political consequences”. The Iranian judiciary has “repeated its abusive practice of upholding death sentences after unfair trials, using coerced ‘confessions’ as evidence,” a press release said.
Two employees of the Iranian embassy expelled
Baerbock had already sharply criticized the verdict in February and called on Iran to correct the decision in the appeals process and to refrain from the death penalty. Shortly thereafter, the federal government expelled two employees of the Iranian embassy.
Iran’s chargé d’affaires, who were summoned at the same time, were informed that Iran must revoke the death sentence and allow Sharmahd to have a fair and constitutional appeals process. A few days later, Iran, for its part, expelled two German diplomats, arguing that Germany was irresponsibly interfering in Iran’s internal affairs.
Arrested by Iranian intelligence in Dubai
The activist Sharmahd was reportedly arrested by the Iranian secret service in Dubai in the summer of 2020 and taken to Iran. Since then he has been imprisoned in Tehran.
Sharmahd previously lived in the United States for years. His family and human rights groups have previously denied allegations against him. Sharmahd was involved in the exile opposition group “Tondar” (Thunder) in the USA, which advocates a return to the monarchy.
European citizens detained in Iran
Several European nationals are currently detained in Iran, many of whom also have Iranian passports. The country legally treats people with dual citizenship as Iranians. Critics accuse Tehran of holding them as political hostages. Iran denies the allegations and usually justifies the arrests with allegations of espionage.