Germany’s Foreign Ministry recalled its ambassador to Iran, Markus Potzel, on Tuesday for consultations and also summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires in Berlin following Iran’s execution of Iranian-German dissident Jamshid Sharmahd.
“We have sent our strongest protest against the actions of the Iranian regime & reserve the right to take further action,” the ministry posted on social media platform X.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said, according to state media reports, that “support for Sharmahd contradicts the German government’s claims in regards to the rule of law, the protection of human rights, and the fight against terrorism.”
Iran’s state media reported Monday that authorities executed Sharmahd after convicting him on terrorism charges.
Sharmahd, an Iranian and German dual citizen and opposition figure, was accused of masterminding a deadly 2008 bombing of a mosque in Shiraz
SEE ALSO: Iran executes Iranian-German dissidentHis family strongly denies the charges and says Iranian authorities kidnapped him in Dubai in 2020.
Sharmahd, 68, had been living in the United States, where he served as a spokesperson for Tondar, a group seeking to restore the Western-backed monarchy that ruled Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock condemned the execution in the “strongest possible terms” and said Sharmahd was “abducted to Iran from Dubai, held for years without a fair trial and has now been killed.”
She said the German government “made it crystal clear to Tehran time and again that the execution of a German national would have severe consequences.”
Germany expelled two Iranian diplomats in 2023 over Sharmahd’s sentence.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday, "We have long made clear that we oppose the way Iran carries out executions, often in a way that fundamentally violates human rights.”
Sharmahd was given the death penalty in 2023 for “corruption on Earth,” a term Iranian authorities use to refer to a broad range of offenses, including those related to Islamic morals.
The Iranian judiciary's Mizan News Agency reported that his execution took place Monday morning but did not give further details.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.