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Berlin, EU Vow Response after Tehran Executes German-Iranian

In this file photo taken on July 31, 2023 a demonstrator holds a picture of Iranian-German Jamshid Sharmahd, who has been sentenced to death in Iran, and with the lettering "Free Jamshid" during a demonstration for his release in front of the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin. (AFP)
In this file photo taken on July 31, 2023 a demonstrator holds a picture of Iranian-German Jamshid Sharmahd, who has been sentenced to death in Iran, and with the lettering "Free Jamshid" during a demonstration for his release in front of the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin. (AFP)
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Berlin, EU Vow Response after Tehran Executes German-Iranian

In this file photo taken on July 31, 2023 a demonstrator holds a picture of Iranian-German Jamshid Sharmahd, who has been sentenced to death in Iran, and with the lettering "Free Jamshid" during a demonstration for his release in front of the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin. (AFP)
In this file photo taken on July 31, 2023 a demonstrator holds a picture of Iranian-German Jamshid Sharmahd, who has been sentenced to death in Iran, and with the lettering "Free Jamshid" during a demonstration for his release in front of the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin. (AFP)

Germany and the European Union on Tuesday strongly condemned Iran's execution of a 69-year-old German-Iranian dissident after years behind bars and warned they were considering retaliatory measures.  

Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Jamshid Sharmahd's execution on Monday a "scandal" and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned Iran's "inhumane regime" of "serious consequences".  

Berlin summoned Iran's charge d'affaires to "convey its strong protest against the actions of the Iranian regime". The German ambassador in Tehran also protested to the Iranian foreign ministry and was then recalled to Berlin for consultations.

Berlin "reserved the right to take further measures", the foreign ministry said.

The EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell said the EU condemned Sharmahd's "killing in the strongest possible terms" and that the bloc was also "considering measures in response".

Sharmahd, a German citizen of Iranian descent and a US resident, was a trained software engineer who had worked and written for an Iranian opposition group's website based abroad that strongly criticized the Iranian leadership.  

He was seized by Iranian authorities in 2020 while travelling through the United Arab Emirates, according to his family.  

Iran accused him of having played a role in a deadly 2008 mosque bombing. He was sentenced to death in February 2023 for the capital offence of "corruption on Earth".  

The Iranian judiciary's Mizan website said on Monday that "the death sentence of Jamshid Sharmahd... was carried out this morning".  

His family have always vehemently protested his innocence.  

Sharmahd's daughter Gazelle said on X she was waiting for the German and US governments to provide "concrete proof" that her father had been killed.  

If so, she said, his body should be brought home "immediately" and the Iranian government should face "severe punishment".  

- 'Show trial' -

Rights group Amnesty International said Sharmahd's execution "is the cruel end of a process that can only be described as a show trial".  

"These actions show once again that the systematic abuse of fundamental human rights is anchored in the workings of the Iranian judicial system," the group's Germany chapter said in a statement.  

It called on Berlin to issue "arrest warrants against all Iranian officials who participated in the crime against Jamshid Sharmahd".  

Baerbock said Monday that the case "underlines the fact that no one is safe under the new government either," referring to President Masoud Pezeshkian, who was inaugurated in July.  

Iran carries out the second highest number of executions worldwide per year after China, according to Amnesty International.

At least 627 people have been executed this year by Iran, according to Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights. Rights groups accuse the authorities of using capital punishment as a tool to instill fear throughout society.

Several other Europeans are held in Iran, including at least three French citizens.

The director of Iran Human Rights, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, called Sharmahd's execution "a case of extrajudicial killing of a hostage aimed at covering up the recent failures of the hostage-takers of" Iran.

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Taiwan Shuts Down as Strong Typhoon Kong-Rey Hits, One Dead

This Himawari satellite handout image from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) website in collaboration with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NOAA/NESDIS) and Colorado State University-CIRA (CSU/CIRA) taken and released on October 31, 2024 shows typhoon Kong-rey developing over the Pacific as it approaches Taiwan (center L). (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)
This Himawari satellite handout image from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) website in collaboration with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NOAA/NESDIS) and Colorado State University-CIRA (CSU/CIRA) taken and released on October 31, 2024 shows typhoon Kong-rey developing over the Pacific as it approaches Taiwan (center L). (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)
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Taiwan Shuts Down as Strong Typhoon Kong-Rey Hits, One Dead

This Himawari satellite handout image from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) website in collaboration with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NOAA/NESDIS) and Colorado State University-CIRA (CSU/CIRA) taken and released on October 31, 2024 shows typhoon Kong-rey developing over the Pacific as it approaches Taiwan (center L). (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)
This Himawari satellite handout image from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) website in collaboration with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NOAA/NESDIS) and Colorado State University-CIRA (CSU/CIRA) taken and released on October 31, 2024 shows typhoon Kong-rey developing over the Pacific as it approaches Taiwan (center L). (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)

A strong Typhoon Kong-rey made landfall on Taiwan's east coast on Thursday, the largest storm by size to hit the island in nearly 30 years, closing financial markets, causing hundreds of flights to be cancelled and reducing rail services.
The typhoon knocked out power to nearly half a million households, the government said.
The storm hit the mountainous and sparsely populated east coast county of Taitung, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Administration, with strong winds and torrential rain affecting almost all the island.
The fire department reported one person had died when their truck hit a fallen tree in central Taiwan.
At one point a super typhoon, Kong-rey slightly weakened overnight but remained powerful as the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane packing gusts of more than 250 kph (155 mph), according to Tropical Storm Risk.
Taiwan's weather administration put the typhoon's size at the biggest to hit the island since 1996.
"I hope that everyone in the country will co-operate in avoiding disaster and refraining from engaging in dangerous behaviour such as wave watching during the typhoon," President Lai Ching-te wrote on his Facebook page.
Administration forecaster Gene Huang said after hitting the east coast it would head towards the Taiwan Strait as a much weakened storm and urged people across the island to stay at home due to the danger of high winds.
Environmental officials were working on Thursday to prevent oil leaking from a Chinese cargo ship beached against rocks on Taiwan's northern coast after losing power in turbulent weather.
Warnings for destructive winds of more than 160 kph (100 mph) were issued in Taitung, whose outlying Lanyu island recorded gusts above 260 kph (162 mph) before some of the wind-barometers there went offline.
"It was terrifying last night. Many people on the island didn't sleep, worrying about something happening to their house," Sinan Rapongan, a government official on Lanyu, also known as Orchid Island, told Reuters.
Some roofs had been damaged and more than 1,300 homes had lost power but so far no injuries had been reported, she added.
Parts of eastern Taiwan recorded one meter (3.3 feet) of rainfall since the typhoon began approaching on Wednesday.
The defense ministry has put 36,000 troops on standby to help with rescue efforts, while almost 10,000 people have been evacuated from high risk areas ahead of time, the government said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's largest contract chipmaker and major supplier to companies like Apple and Nvidia, said it has activated routine typhoon alert preparation procedures at all its factories and construction sites.
"We do not expect significant impact to our operations," it said in an emailed statement.
Taiwan's transport ministry said 314 international flights had been cancelled, along with all domestic flights.
Taiwan's high speed railway, which connects major cities on its populated western plains, continued to operate with a much reduced service.
Kong-rey is forecast to graze China along the coast of Fujian province on Friday morning. China's financial hub Shanghai is bracing for potentially the worst rains in more than 40 years.
Subtropical Taiwan is frequently hit by typhoons. The last one, Typhoon Krathon, killed four people earlier this month as it passed through the south of the island.