I condemn the murder of Jamshid Sharmahd by the Iranian regime in the strongest possible terms. Jamshid Sharmahd was abducted to Iran from Dubai, held for years without a fair trial and has now been killed.

The very worst has come to pass for his family today. I would like to offer my most profound sympathy to his family, with whom we were and continue to be in the very closest contact, for this terrible loss.

Our Embassy in Tehran lobbied tirelessly on Jamshid Sharmahd’s behalf and we worked on this case every day also here in Berlin. We sent a high-ranking team of the Federal Foreign Office to Tehran on several occasions for this purpose. We made it crystal clear to Tehran time and again that the execution of a German national would have severe consequences.

Jamshid Sharmahd’s execution shows once again what an inhumane regime is in power in Tehran – a regime that punishes its young people, its own population and foreign nationals with death. This underlines that evidently no one is safe in Iran, also under the new Government.