Iranian diplomats have been expelled from the state’s Berlin embassy after a Tehran court sentenced a German national to death in a show trial.
Jamshid Sharmahd, 67 – who holds dual German-Iranian citizenship – was sentenced on 21st February after being found guilty of terrorist charges.
A day later (22nd February), German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock expelled two Iranian envoys and ordered them to leave the country “immediately”.
The expulsions came after a tense showdown with Iran’s charge d’affaires, summoned to a meeting with the minister.
Supporters of Sharmahd say he was kidnapped from Dubai and trafficked to Iran for a show trial to put pressure on the West.
Baerbock said: “We call on Iran to reverse the death penalty for Jamshid Sharmahd and to make it possible for him to have a fair appeal based on the rule of law.”
The Tehran Revolutionary Court found Sharmahd guilty of links to a mosque bombing in 2008.
Baerbock said: “Not only is the death penalty cruel, inhuman and degrading, but Jamshid Sharmahd has never had anything approaching a fair trial.”
The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement obtained by Newsflash on 22nd February: “Against the background of the death sentence against Jamshid Sharmahd, which was announced yesterday, I had the charge d’affaires of the Iranian embassy summoned. They were informed that we do not accept the massive violation of the rights of a German national.
“As a result, the German government has declared two members of the Iranian embassy to be undesirable and promptly asked to leave Germany.
“We call on Iran to revoke Jamshid Sharmahd’s death sentence and allow him a fair and due process of appeal.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: “The Iranian regime fights its own people in every way it can and disregards human rights.
“The death sentence against #JamshidSharmahd is unacceptable. We condemn this in the strongest possible terms and call on the Iranian regime to reverse the verdict.”
Prosecutors in Iran also accused Sharmahd of links with the CIA and FBI and of trying to contact Israeli Mossad secret service agents.
Sharmahd’s family and supporters have criticised the charges.
His daughter Gazelle said: “All of the charges are fabricated charges. They are scapegoating my dad who is innocent.”
