BERLIN — Germany announced Wednesday it would expel two Iranian envoys in response to a Tehran court sentencing a German-Iranian national to death on terrorism charges.
The diplomats have been declared personae non gratae and “ordered with short notice” to leave the country, said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
Baerbock also said she had summoned the acting head of the Iranian embassy. “He was informed that we do not accept the massive violation of the rights of a German citizen,” she said.
The Iranian regime had accused Jamshid Sharmahd, 67, of leading an armed pro-monarchist group and being involved in an April 2008 attack on a mosque in the city of Shiraz that killed 14 people. Sharmahd’s arrest was announced by Tehran in August 2020. According to his family, he was abducted by Iranian intelligence during a stopover in Dubai and then taken to Iran.
Sharmahd was sentenced to death on Tuesday. His family has described the legal process as a “sham trial.”
“We call on Iran to revoke the death sentence for Jamshid Sharmahd and to allow him a fair and constitutional appeal process,” Baerbock said. The minister had announced Tuesday that the imposition of the death penalty would “result in a clear reaction.”
Born in Tehran, Sharmahd grew up in Germany and emigrated to the United States in 2003.
