BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s foreign minister called Wednesday on Iran to reverse a death sentence handed down to Jamshid Sharmahd, an Iranian-German dual citizen and opposition figure accused of masterminding deadly attacks.
German officials said they were not allowed to attend the hearing at which the sentence against Sharmahd was upheld.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called the verdict “completely unacceptable.”
“At no point did Jamshid Sharmahd have even the beginnings of a fair trial,” she wrote on Twitter. “We call on Iran to immediately reverse this arbitrary verdict.”
Germany’s ambassador to Iran has broken off a duty trip and is on his way back to Tehran to intervene on Sharmahd’s behalf, Baerbock added.
Earlier this year Germany and Iran expelled each others’ diplomats over the case.
Sharmahd had been residing in Glendora, California, prior to his detention. Iran accuses the 67-year-old of leading the armed wing of a group committed to restoring the Western-backed monarchy that ruled Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Sharmahd’s family says he was only a spokesman for the opposition group and deny he was involved in any attacks. They say he was abducted from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, in 2020 and spirited into Iran.
