After the execution of German-Iranian dissident Jamshid Sharmahd, the German government has come under fire. Olaf Scholz called his execution a “scandal”.
The execution on Monday of German-Iranian dissident Jamshid Sharmahd after four years of imprisonment on terrorism charges in Iran horrified Germany. In Berlin, people demonstrated in front of the Foreign Ministry in memory of this 69-year-old man, born in Tehran, but who had spent his childhood and adolescence in Germany.
The electrical engineer’s daughter, Gazelle Sharmahd – who lives in the United States – had continued to intervene – notably with the German government – on behalf of her father, who was doing very poorly when he was in solitary confinement in Iran. In 2003, Jamshid Sharmahd, who had been committed to the Iranian opposition for years, moved to Los Angeles. In 2020, during a stopover in Dubai, the entrepreneur was kidnapped by representatives of the Iranian regime. In Iran, Sharmahd had been held in solitary confinement for months and was sentenced to death in 2023 for terrorist acts.
German government criticized
In an article published in Taz, journalist Gilda Sahebi believes that the federal government left the daughter of the dissident Gazelle alone in her fight. “When it comes to the Iranian regime, the federal government is a fan of ‘quiet diplomacy’ – arguably the worst way to deal with a dictatorial state like the Islamic Republic. Gazelle Sharmahd waited in vain for a clear tone against the regime Iranian The federal government did not even dare to describe Jamshid Sharmahd as a political hostage, which he clearly was, unlike states like France, Denmark or Austria, which spoke of “hostages. of State” and who were able to free most of their nationals”.
Baerbock: “We have been tirelessly committed”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote about X that she condemned “with the greatest firmness” the assassination perpetrated by the Iranian regime. And to continue: “I extend my deepest sympathy to his family for this terrible loss. We have been tirelessly committed to Jamshid Sharmahd and have sent a high-level AA team to Tehran on several occasions. We have always made our understanding clear equivocal in Tehran that the execution of a German national would have serious consequences”.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz accepted political sponsorship from Sharmahd years ago. He condemned the execution as “heinous crime” and called on the federal government to expel the Iranian ambassador from Berlin.
According to reports from human rights groups, more than 500 people have already been sentenced to death and executed in Iran in the first 10 months of 2024.