Germany scrambles to stop Iran from executing dual citizen

Rina Bassist

Apr 26, 2023

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock listens to a statement during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, at the United Nations in Geneva on November 24, 2022. (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD / AFP) (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD/AFP via Getty Images) — Germany Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock listens to a statement during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, at the United Nations in Geneva on Nov. 24, 2022. — VALENTIN FLAURAUD/AFP via Getty Images

PARIS — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has condemned the decision by Iran’s top court to uphold the death sentence of German-Iranian dual national Jamshid Sharmahd, convicted of involvement in a 2008 deadly bomb attack at a mosque in Shiraz.

"The confirmation of death sentence against Jamshid Sharmahd is unacceptable," Baerbock said in a statement Wednesday.

"Sharmahd never benefited from even a semblance of a fair trial. We call on Iran to immediately reverse this arbitrary sentence," she added noting that Germany's ambassador to Iran, Hans-Udo Muzel, is cutting a trip short to return to Iran. "[He] is on his way back to Tehran to intervene with the Iranian authorities," tweeted the German foreign minister.

Bundestag member Norbert Rottgen, who has been calling for Sharmahd's release, warned, "His life is in acute danger. The kidnapping and political hostage-taking of Jamshid Sharmahd show how deeply inhumane is this regime."