Islamic Republic of Iran: Execution of German citizen Jamshid Sharmahd

After announced state murder: Appeasement costs human lives

Frankfurt am Main/ Tehran, 28 October 2024 - The execution of German citizen Jamshid Sharmahd was a murder with an announcement. The political prisoner was hanged in a show trial, without legal representation, after being kidnapped and tortured. According to the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR), the state murder testifies to the perverse brutality of the clerical-fascist mullah regime. The German government must explain why, in comparison to other European governments, it was unable to save one of its own citizens, demands the ISHR.

The Internationale Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte (IGFM) – Deutsche Sektion e.V. (IGFM) is shocked and expresses its sincere condolences to daughter Gazelle Sharmahd and the entire family.

‘Jamshid Sharmahd's execution was a murder with a message. For far too long, Germany and the United States of America have stood idly by or made only half-hearted attempts to free their innocent citizen from the grip of the terrorist regime in Iran. His death must not remain without consequences. The German Foreign Minister must now explain herself or resign,’ said Matthias Böhning, Secretary General of the ISHR.

The IGFM criticises the German government and the US administration for their inadequate efforts to save the life of the wrongfully convicted citizen or ‘resident’. Despite tireless appeals by daughter Gazelle Sharmahd and a broad international alliance of democracy activists, initiatives and experts, neither government has taken any of the proposed measures. While other European countries have been able to rescue some of their prisoners through prisoner exchanges, not a single German hostage has been released in Iran, according to the ISHR.

The Islamic government of Iran stands for murder, terror and execution worldwide. Unfortunately, German governments have not been able to adequately counter this systematic terror for decades. Warm-hearted meetings, congratulatory telegrams and interest in keeping the mullahs in power due to alleged fear of a geostrategic power vacuum after a possible system overthrow contradict a credible commitment to human rights,’ says Valerio Krüger, spokesman for the board of the German section of the International Federation for Human Rights (IGFM).

The IGFM calls on the US government as well as the German government to take immediate sovereign measures against the Islamic Republic, including the suspension of all payments and financial transfers to Iran, the withdrawal of landing permits for Iranian airlines, the closure of Iranian banks and the expulsion of all diplomats of the Islamic Republic of Iran except for one chargé d'affaires.