Germany has recalled its ambassador to Tehran and summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires in Berlin in protest over the execution of a German-Iranian dual national, Jamshid Sharmahd, accused of terrorism by Iran.
His daughter, Gazelle Sharmahd, who had pressed the German and US governments hard to save him, said she and her brother felt let down by the failure of both governments to do more. Sharmahd was executed on Monday.
Gazelle Sharmahd said the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, had declined to meet her. On social media she published a video of herself standing in silence saying the bond she had with her father was unbreakable.
She pinned the ancient Derafsh Kaviani symbol on her chest and tied her hair on top of her head, as do female protesters in Iran’s Women, Life, Freedom movement. “As I wait in silence, our bond is beyond words,” she wrote to her father.
Our beloved hero and father of Iran Jimmy joon,
— Gazelle غزاله شارمهد (@GazelleSharmahd) October 28, 2024
As I am waiting in silence our bond exceeds words.
The German @AuswaertigesAmt and US @StateDept will talk to me shortly and I will assess if they have any proof that the cowardly jihadists of the occupying Islamic Regime have… pic.twitter.com/1stqgy3DW4
The US refusal in to include Sharmahd in a $6bn cash exchange for five prisoners in September 2023 had infuriated her, but the US said that although her father had lived in California and had a green card he was not a US citizen, and so could not part of the deal. The $6bn in Iranian funds had been frozen in a South Korean bank account.
Scholz called Sharmahd’s execution a “scandal” and the German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock , threatened Iran’s “inhumane regime” with “serious consequences”.
Sharmahd was abducted by Iranian security guards at Dubai airport in 2020 while in transit to India to conclude a business deal.
Baerbock defended her efforts to secure his release. “We have campaigned tirelessly for Jamshid Sharmahd and sent a high-ranking team from the foreign office to Tehran on several occasions. We have repeatedly made it clear to Tehran that the execution of a German citizen will have serious consequences,” she said.
“The killing of Jamshid Sharmahd shows what kind of inhumane regime is in place there: a regime that uses death against its youth, its own population and foreign nationals. Even under the new government, no one is safe in Iran.”
The EU head of foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, also condemned the execution and said the EU would consider its response.
Mariam Claren, another daughter of a German-Iranian dual national held in Tehran, also complained about the so-called quiet diplomacy handling of such cases. “All requests from us families asking for a meeting always went unanswered. I have rarely seen such cold-hearted people,” she said.
Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s opposition Christian Democratic Union party, said: “The execution of the death sentence against our fellow citizen Jamshid Sharmahd is a heinous crime.” He asked the German government to respond decisively, saying “quiet diplomacy” had failed.
“Relations with Iran should be put to the test in view of the state-sponsored killing of a German citizen,” Merz said. “The Iranian ambassador must be expelled.” Merz has long campaigned for Sharmahd’s release.
Tehran had accused Sharmahd, 69, of heading a pro-monarchist group called Tondar and organising an attack on a mosque in 2008 that killed 14 people and injured more than 200.
It also accused him of “disclosing classified information” on missile sites of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard during a television programme in 2017.
The Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi accused Germany of hypocrisy, adding no terrorist enjoys impunity even if supported by Germany. He also accused Baerbock of gaslighting and supporting child killers.
In her statement on social media, Gazelle Sharmahd posted: “Is the state department truly still denying that my father is an AMERICAN with no connections at all to America and US laws, such as the Levinson Act? At this critical moment, are you seriously trying to shift responsibility to Germany? Where is your shame? Where is your compassion? Let us make it clear to every stakeholder – government, media, and civil society – that has either remained silent or actively censored the truth you helped tighten the noose around Jimmy Sharmahd’s neck.
“Jimmy was kidnapped and abandoned – held hostage for four years while you did nothing, and was left behind every time the US or EU negotiated with the terrorists. You left him to die, while the Biden-Harris administration handed $6bn to his captors and his murderers.”
