Berlin shocked as Iran upholds German dual national's death sentence

By Anadolu Staff

BERLIN (AA) - Germany expressed shock on Wednesday at reports that Iran's top court upheld the death sentence for a German-Iranian citizen who was tried for the deadly bombing of a mosque in 2008, which seriously strained bilateral relations.

"We were dismayed to hear the news that a few hours ago the Iranian Supreme Court upheld Mr. Sharmahd's death sentence," deputy spokesman for German Foreign Ministry Christian Wagner told media in Berlin.

“Our chargé d'affaires is in Tehran and has already urgently contacted the Iranian side to verify this, because if that were to happen, the situation would be extremely serious and the appeal process would be over,” he added.

Wagner pointed out that his country had repeatedly said the death sentence against Sharmahd was “absolutely unacceptable” and that the court process was never fair.

Earlier on Wednesday, judiciary spokesman Massoud Setayeshi told reporters in Tehran that "Jamshid Sharmahd's sentence has been upheld by the Supreme Court," and that "measures" ahead of the 68-year-old's execution "will be taken later."

In February this year, Sharmahd was sentenced to death by the Tehran Revolutionary Court after being convicted of involvement in the April 2008 attack in the southern city of Shiraz that killed 14 people.

Germany condemned the sentence as "unacceptable" and declared two staff members at Iran's Embassy in Berlin persona non grata, ordering them to leave the country. Reacting to Berlin’s move, Tehran also expelled two German diplomats last month.

Meanwhile, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Friedrich Merz, who had taken over Sharmahd's political sponsorship, expressed shock on Twitter. "I call on the regime in Iran again to allow Jamshid Sharmahd to leave for his home country Germany immediately!" wrote Merz.