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EU chief diplomat condemns execution of German-Iranian

by AI | 30.Oct 2024 | Europe in brief AI

The EU and the German government have strongly condemned the execution of Djamshid Sharmahd. EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell is threatening with “measures”.

October 29, 2024, Germany, Frankfurt: People protest against the death penalty in Iran and the execution of the German-Iranian dual citizen Djamshid Sharmahd in front of the Iranian consulate. Photo: Ardavan Safari/dpa

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Brussels – EU Chief Diplomat Josep Borrell has strongly condemned the execution of the German-Iranian dual citizen Djamshid Sharmahd. “The EU strongly opposes the death penalty at all times and under all circumstances,” Borrell wrote on the platform X. “We share the pain of the family and relatives and express our solidarity with the German government, with whom we are in contact,” he continued. The EU is considering “measures” in response to the execution, he wrote further, without specifying details.

The Iranian judiciary announced Sharmahd’s execution on Monday evening. In the spring of 2023, he had been sentenced to death in a controversial trial on terror charges. Relatives had vehemently rejected the accusations.

Germany’s Chancellor calls execution a scandal

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had already sharply condemned the execution on Monday. Scholz called it a scandal. Baerbock declared the killing “once again shows what a contemptuous regime rules in Tehran.” Tehran has been repeatedly made unambiguously clear “that the execution of a German citizen will have serious consequences.” 

The first consequences have now been drawn. The chargé d’affaires of the embassy was informed of the German government’s displeasure at the Foreign Office. “We have conveyed our strong protest against the actions of the Iranian regime & reserve the right to further measures,” the ministry wrote on the platform X. 

There is currently no Iranian ambassador in Berlin. The previous ambassador has left as part of a regular staff rotation and a successor has not yet arrived. After Sharmahd’s killing, it is considered unlikely that a new ambassador will be sent soon.

Grew up in Germany, lived in the USA for years

Sharmahd was born in Tehran in 1955, came to Germany at the age of seven, and grew up in Germany, where he ran a computer store in Hanover for years. In 2003, he finally moved to California in the USA, where he was politically active. In the USA, Sharmahd was active in the Iranian exile opposition group “Tondar” (Thunder). The Iranian leadership accuses the monarchist organization of being responsible for an attack in the million-city Shiraz in 2008, which resulted in multiple fatalities. The allegations cannot be independently verified – survivors had demanded Sharmahd’s execution.

In the summer of 2020, Sharmahd was abducted under mysterious circumstances from Dubai to Iran during a trip; several reports speak of a kidnapping by the Iranian intelligence service. Since then, he has been in solitary confinement. (October 29)

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