Germany expressed its strong disapproval to Iran regarding the execution of Jamshid Sharmahd, an Iranian-German national who had been living in the U.S. Sharmahd was abducted in Dubai by Iranian security forces back in 2020. In response to this situation, Germany has recalled its ambassador for consultations after a formal protest was issued.
The German Foreign Ministry took to the social media platform X, announcing that Iran’s charge d’affaires in Berlin was summoned to receive a sharp protest against the execution, indicating that Germany reserves the right to pursue further actions without elaborating on those potential measures. In a separate communication, German Ambassador Markus Potzel vehemently condemned what he labeled as the “murder” of Sharmahd during discussions with the Iranian foreign minister. Following these events, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock decided to recall the ambassador to Berlin.
Sharmahd, aged 69, was executed on terrorism-related charges, according to Iran’s judiciary, following a controversial trial in 2023 that was criticized as lacking fairness, with both Germany and the U.S., along with various international human rights organizations, denouncing it. His situation is part of a broader pattern where Iranian dissidents living abroad have been targeted and either tricked or forcibly returned to Iran, particularly after the 2015 nuclear deal began to deteriorate.
Iran accused Sharmahd, a resident of Glendora, California, of orchestrating a deadly 2008 attack on a mosque that resulted in the deaths of 14 individuals and injured more than 200 others, alongside other alleged plots linked to the Kingdom Assembly of Iran and its militant faction, Tondar. Additionally, the Iranian government claimed that Sharmahd had leaked classified information regarding Iranian missile sites during a televised broadcast in 2017. His family vehemently refuted these charges and had campaigned for his release for an extended period.
In July 2020, while in Dubai for a business transaction associated with his software firm, Sharmahd had aimed to connect to a flight to India despite the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The last communication his family received from him was on July 28, 2020. The details surrounding his abduction are unclear; however, mobile phone tracking indicated that his device traveled from Dubai to Al Ain in Oman and later to the port city of Sohar in Oman, where its signal eventually ceased.
Just two days later, the Iranian government announced it had successfully captured Sharmahd through what it described as a “complex operation,” releasing a photo of him while blindfolded. Furthermore, in 2023, Germany had expelled two Iranian diplomats from the country in protest of Sharmahd’s death sentence.