Germany to close Iranian consulates over execution

BERLIN

Germany will close the three Iranian consulates on its soil in response to the execution of German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmahd, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Oct. 31.

"We have repeatedly and unequivocally made it clear to Tehran that the execution of a German citizen will have serious consequences," Baerbock said, announcing the closure of the consulates in Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg in a televised announcement.

The execution, announced on Oct. 28, had already provoked tit-for-tat diplomatic protests, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz calling it a "scandal."

The closures will affect a total of 32 consular staff, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Iran responded later in the day to denouncing the "irrational decision" and said it had summoned Berlin's ambassador to Tehran.

Sharmahd, 69, had been convicted of playing a role in a 2008 mosque bombing in the southern city of Shiraz, in which 14 people were killed and 300 wounded.

His family have long maintained that Sharmahd was innocent and Amnesty International said he had been the victim of a "show trial."

But Iran has defended his execution and declared that "a German passport does not provide impunity to anyone, let alone a terrorist criminal."