Germany protested to Iran on Tuesday over the execution of Iranian German prisoner Jamshid Sharmahd, kidnapped in Dubai in 2020 by Iranian safety forces, and recalled its ambassador in Berlin for consultations.
The International Ministry wrote on the social community He didn’t give additional particulars.
On the similar time, German Ambassador Markus Potzel “protested within the strongest phrases in opposition to the assassination of Jamshid Sharmahd” to Iranian International Minister Abbas Araghchi, he stated. German International Minister Annalena Baerbock then referred to as Potzel to Berlin for consultations.
Sharmahd, 69, was executed in Iran on Monday on terrorism expenses, the nation’s judiciary stated. This adopted a 2023 trial that Germany, the US and worldwide rights teams dismissed as a sham.
He was considered one of a number of Iranian dissidents overseas in recent times, tricked or kidnapped again to Iran as Tehran started lashing out in opposition to the collapse of its 2015 nuclear take care of world powers, together with Germany.
Iran accused Sharmahd, who lived in Glendora, California, of planning a 2008 assault on a mosque that killed 14 folks (together with 5 girls and a baby) and injured greater than 200, in addition to planning different assaults via the little-known Meeting of the Kingdom. of Iran and its militant wing Tondar.
Iran additionally accused Sharmahd of “revealing categorised data” about missile websites of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard throughout a tv program in 2017.
His household disputed the accusations and labored for years to free him.
Araghchi stated in a submit on X that “no terrorist enjoys impunity in Iran. Even when it has the assist of Germany.” He argued that “the proof is public and out there for everybody to see.”
He accused Baerbock of “gaslighting” and wrote that “his authorities is complicit within the ongoing Israeli genocide.” Germany is a staunch ally of Israel and has harshly criticized Iranian assaults on Israel as tensions rise over wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Sharmahd had been in Dubai in 2020, making an attempt to journey to India for a enterprise deal involving his software program firm. He hoped to get a connecting flight though the coronavirus pandemic disrupts international journey.
Sharmahd’s household acquired their final message from him on July 28, 2020. It’s unclear how the kidnapping occurred. However monitoring information confirmed that Sharmahd’s cell phone traveled south from Dubai to town of Al Ain on July 29, crossing the border into Oman. On July 30, monitoring information confirmed that the cell phone traveled to the Omani port metropolis of Sohar, the place the sign stopped.
Two days later, Iran introduced that it had captured Sharmahd in a “complicated operation.” The Intelligence Ministry revealed {a photograph} of him blindfolded.
Germany expelled two Iranian diplomats final yr over Sharmahd’s loss of life sentence.
On Monday evening, Chancellor Olaf Scholz referred to as the execution a “scandal” and Baerbock stated Germany “made it very clear to Tehran again and again that the execution of a German citizen would have critical penalties.”
She did not say what they may be. There’s at present no Iranian ambassador accredited to Berlin. The chargé d’affaires runs the embassy after the earlier ambassador, Mahmoud Farazandeh, left this summer time.
In Brussels, European Union spokesperson Nabila Massrali stated, “We condemn this homicide within the strongest doable phrases.”
He stated that “the EU is contemplating all measures in response,” however famous that any measures must be mentioned with the bloc’s 27 member international locations. He didn’t elaborate on what measures may very well be taken.
Printed – October 30, 2024 04:55 am IST