BERLIN: The daughter of German-Iranian dual national Jamshid Sharmahd on Wednesday brought charges in Germany against eight Iranian officials for “crimes against humanity” after her father was sentenced to death by authorities in Tehran.
The complaint, filed with German federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe, accuses the high-ranking members of the Iranian judiciary and intelligence apparatus of unlawfully detaining and torturing Sharmahd, as well as denying him a fair trial.
“For three years nobody knows where my father is. I haven’t had any contact with him for two,” Gazelle Sharmahd said via video link from the United States.
“I do not know if he will survive,” she said.
“The aim of the charges is to show that Iran is committing crimes against humanity,” said Wolfgang Kaleck, head of the human right group ECCHR who filed the complaint together with Gazelle Sharmahd.
“We hope these charges will trigger a judicial inquiry into the detention of Jamshid Sharmahd,” Kaleck said.
The federal prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe applies the principle of universal jurisdiction — which allows it to pursue people for crimes of exceptional gravity, including war crimes and genocide, even if they were committed in a different country.
Jamshid Sharmahd was sentenced to death in February after he was convicted for taking part the April 2008 attack in the southern city of Shiraz that killed 14 people.
The sentence was subsequently confirmed by Iran’s supreme court in April.
Germany has condemned the death sentence handed down to Sharmahd, describing the verdict as “unacceptable.”
Over a dozen Western passport-holders are being held in Iran on various charges. Most hold dual nationality, which Iran does not recognize.
Eight Iranian officials targeted in German criminal complaint
https://arab.news/ptzxd
Eight Iranian officials targeted in German criminal complaint
- Jamshid Sharmahd was sentenced to death in February
- He was convicted for taking part the 2008 attack that killed 14 people
Ankara city hall says water cuts due to ‘record drought’
- Dam reservoir levels have dropped to 1.12 percent and taps are being shut off for several hours a day in certain districts on a rotating schedule in Ankara
ANKARA: Water cuts for the past several weeks in Turkiye’s capital were due to the worst drought in 50 years and an exploding population, a municipal official told AFP, rejecting accusations of mismanagement.
Dam reservoir levels have dropped to 1.12 percent and taps are being shut off for several hours a day in certain districts on a rotating schedule in Ankara, forcing many residents to line up at public fountains to fill pitchers.
“2025 was a record year in terms of drought. The amount of water feeding the dams fell to historically low levels, to 182 million cubic meters in 2025, compared with 400 to 600 million cubic meters in previous years. This is the driest period in the last 50 years,” said Memduh Akcay, director general of the Ankara municipal water authority.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the Ankara municipal authorities, led by the main opposition party, “incompetent.”
Rejecting this criticism, the city hall says Ankara is suffering from the effects of climate change and a growing population, which has doubled since the 1990s to nearly six million inhabitants.
“In addition to reduced precipitation, the irregularity of rainfall patterns, the decline in snowfall, and the rapid conversion of precipitation into runoff (due to urbanization) prevent the dams from refilling effectively,” Akcay said.
A new pumping system drawing water from below the required level in dams will ensure no water cuts this weekend, Ankara’s city hall said, but added that the problem would persist in the absence of sufficient rainfall.
Much of Turkiye experienced a historic drought in 2025. The municipality of Izmir, the country’s third-largest city on the Aegean coast, has imposed daily water cuts since last summer.
