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Al-Monitor — German human rights activists are pressuring the government in Berlin to take firm steps against Tehran, to halt the death sentence handed down on Tuesday to dual German-Iranian national Jamshid Sharmahd.
On Wednesday, Germany decided to expel two employees of the Iranian Embassy in Berlin in reaction to the death sentence ruling, but several German politicians believe the expulsion is not enough of a strong enough message to Iran to stop the execution.
Bundestag member Norbert Rottgen, who has long called for Germany to outlaw the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said on Thursday that the summoning of the Iranian envoy for a reprimand by the German Foreign Ministry and the ensuing decision to expel two employees of the Iranian Embassy are not enough. “If the kidnaping of a citizen and threatening to kill him won’t be met with severe consequences, then we are creating a precedent as means of pressure,” he tweeted.
Gazelle Sharmahd, the daughter of Jamshid, has been leading the public battle for his release since his kidnapping in Dubai three years ago and his transfer by force to Iran, where he stood trial. After the sentencing, she appealed to both US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to further pressure the regime in Tehran for the release of her father. Gazelle Sharmahd did not openly criticize the actions taken by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, but other activists are noting that only public pressure on the Berlin government could save Sharmahd.
The government in Berlin is facing a complicated dilemma. Germany, together with France, were the two countries that pushed for the fifth wave of sanctions against Iran adopted on Monday. Clearly, that decision had little effect on the Iranian regime as far as the Sharmahd affair.
Both Paris and Berlin have been leading in the past few years efforts for the relaunching of talks with Tehran for a renewed joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPOA) nuclear deal. But the crackdowns in Iran against demonstrators forced both European capitals to adopt a different policy. Together with the United Kingdom, France and Germany have been championing sanctions against Iranian senior officials suspected of violating human rights. In several cases, the three countries published joint statements on the issue, in parallel to statements published by the European Union.
As such, Berlin has little diplomatic weapons at hand to force Tehran’s hands over Sharmahd’s death sentence. The execution last month of dual national British-Iranian Alireza Akbari, a former Iranian senior defense official convicted of spying for the United Kingdom, demonstrates that Tehran has no intention of caving into European pressure.
Germany fears that the blacklisting of the IRGC could rattle Iranian authorities. On Monday, Baerbock said that German experts have found no legal grounds to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Without at least one EU member deciding to blacklist the group, the EU as a whole cannot add the IRGC to its list of terrorist organizations.
Germany and France have also encountered other problems sanctioning Iran within the European bloc. Hungary is reluctant to approve the 10th package of sanctions against Russia, which should also include sanctions against dual-use Iranian companies producing or selling components for Iranian drones operated by the Russian army against Ukrainian populations.
Adding to the already tense relations between Berlin and Tehran were reports this month over an increase in recent months in spyingby Iranian intelligence agents on exiled Iranians living in Germany. The German federal government acknowledged that there have been “increasing indications of possible spying on opposition events and individuals” after the beginning of demonstrations in Tehran following the murder of Mahsa Amini.
