Germany expels two Iranian diplomats to demand release of death-sentenced German citizen

Germany ordered two Iranian diplomats to leave the country in short order following the sentencing to death on February 22 of a German-Iranian man accused of organizing a bomb attack in 2008 and collaborating with the US and Israel.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she summoned the charge d’affaires of the Iranian embassy in Berlin and informed them that Germany does not accept “the massive violation of the rights of a German citizen”, Bloomberg writes.

The condemned man, Jamshid Sharmahd, led a California-based, pro-monarchy group called the Kingdom Assembly of Iran and campaigned for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic and its regime.

He was arrested by Iranian intelligence in July 2020 in what they described as a “complex operation,” according to state media reports at the time. Sharmahd’s family told the Associated Press that he was visiting Dubai when he was abducted by Iranian agents and forcibly taken to Iran.

“We call on Iran to revoke the death sentence for Jamshid Sharmahd and to allow him a fair and constitutional appeal process,” Baerbock said on February 22 in an emailed statement.