Iran slams German FM remarks on dual national’s execution as ‘gaslighting’

Update Iran slams German FM remarks on dual national’s execution as ‘gaslighting’
Iran earlier executed Iranian-German national Jamshid Sharmahd after he was convicted of carrying out terrorist attacks. (File/AFP)
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Updated 29 October 2024
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Iran slams German FM remarks on dual national’s execution as ‘gaslighting’

Iran slams German FM remarks on dual national’s execution as ‘gaslighting’
  • Berlin called the execution a “scandal” and warned of “serious consequences” for Iran's “inhumane regime”

TEHRAN: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday lambasted remarks by his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock criticizing Iranian authorities over the execution of dual national Jamshid Sharmahd.
On Monday, Iran executed 69-year-old German-Iranian Sharmahd, who was sentenced to death in February 2023 for the capital offense of “corruption on Earth.” The sentence was later confirmed by the Iranian Supreme Court.
“No terrorist enjoys impunity in Iran ... A German passport does not provide impunity to anyone, let alone a terrorist criminal,” Araghchi said in a post on X, urging Baerbock to stop “with the gaslighting.”
Sharmahd 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 said he was seized by Iranian authorities in 2020 while traveling through the United Arab Emirates.
Iran, which does not recognize dual citizenship, announced his arrest after a “complex operation,” without specifying how, where or when he was seized.
On Tuesday, 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.
Baerbock said Sharmahd’s killing showed that an “inhumane regime rules in Tehran” and vowed that it “would have serious consequences.”
In his post, Araghchi accused the German government of being an “accomplice in the ongoing Israeli genocide.”
He said Berlin was a top “provider of lethal weapons to Israel for its genocidal campaign in Gaza and carnage in Lebanon.”

‘Scandal’

Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the killing “shows once again what kind of inhumane regime rules in Tehran: a regime that uses death against its youth, its own population and foreign nationals.”

She added that Berlin had repeatedly made clear “that the execution of a German national would have serious consequences.”

“This underlines the fact that no one is safe under the new government either,” she said in reference to the administration of President Masoud Pezeshkian, who was inaugurated in July.

Baerbock expressed her “heartfelt sympathy” for Sharmahd's family, “with whom we have always been in close contact”, and said the German embassy in Tehran had worked “tirelessly” on his behalf.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also condemned the execution, calling it a “scandal” and adding that “Jamshid Sharmahd did not even receive the opportunity to defend himself against the charges at the trial.”

However, Gazelle Sharmahd accused both the German and US governments of “abandoning” her father in negotiations and said that the family had been ignored.

The director of Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, called the execution “a case of extrajudicial killing of a hostage aimed at covering up the recent failures of the hostage-takers of the Islamic Republic.”

“Jamshid Sharmahd was kidnapped in the United Arab Emirates and unlawfully transferred to Iran, where he was sentenced to death without a fair trial,” said Amiry-Moghaddam, whose group closely tracks executions in Iran.

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights said: “The unlawful abduction of Sharmahd, his subsequent torture in custody, the unfair show trial and today's execution are exemplary of the countless crimes of the Iranian regime.”

Tool for fear

Sharmahd grew up in an Iranian-German family and moved to California in 2003, where he was accused of making statements hostile to both Iran and Islam on television.

Mizan said Sharmahd was “a criminal terrorist” who “was hosted by the United States as well as European countries and was operating under the complex protection of their intelligence services.”

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

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

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

European Parliament member Hannah Neumann, who chairs the assembly’s Iran delegation, called for a total change in the EU’s policy towards Tehran, the Bild daily reported.

“There were some voices who wanted to wait and see how the regime would develop after Pezeshkian's election,” Neumann said. “This terrible execution shows us clearly how we should judge this new government.”


Turkiye’s Erdogan tells UN’s Guterres new phase reached in Syrian conflict, presidency says

Turkiye’s Erdogan tells UN’s Guterres new phase reached in Syrian conflict, presidency says
Updated 12 sec ago
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Turkiye’s Erdogan tells UN’s Guterres new phase reached in Syrian conflict, presidency says

Turkiye’s Erdogan tells UN’s Guterres new phase reached in Syrian conflict, presidency says
Syrian militants captured the key city of Hama on Thursday

ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a call on Thursday that a new phase “being managed calmly” has been reached in the Syrian conflict, his office said.
Syrian militants captured the key city of Hama on Thursday, bringing the insurgents a major victory after a lightning advance across northern Syria and dealing a new blow to President Bashar Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies.
Erdogan told Guterres that the Syrian government needed to rapidly engage with its people to achieve a political solution, and added Turkiye was working to de-escalate tensions, protect civilians and pave the way for a political solution, his office said in a statement on X.

Syria state media says air defenses shoot down two ‘enemy’ drones over Damascus

Syria state media says air defenses shoot down two ‘enemy’ drones over Damascus
Updated 05 December 2024
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Syria state media says air defenses shoot down two ‘enemy’ drones over Damascus

Syria state media says air defenses shoot down two ‘enemy’ drones over Damascus
  • “Our air defenses confronted enemy drone aircraft in the skies over Damascus,” the statement said

DAMASCUS: Syrian air defenses shot down two “enemy” drones over Damascus on Thursday, state news agency SANA reported, citing a military source.
“A short time ago, our air defenses confronted enemy drone aircraft in the skies over Damascus,” the statement from the military source said, adding that “two aircraft were shot down, without any human or material losses.”


’Can’t leave them to it’: ex-child soldier urges help for Sudan kids

’Can’t leave them to it’: ex-child soldier urges help for Sudan kids
Updated 05 December 2024
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’Can’t leave them to it’: ex-child soldier urges help for Sudan kids

’Can’t leave them to it’: ex-child soldier urges help for Sudan kids
  • The United Nations warned earlier this year that “an entire generation could be destroyed,” with millions facing disease and malnutrition
  • During a visit this week to the eastern city of Port Sudan, UNICEF goodwill ambassador Ishmael Beah met with displaced children and families

NAIROBI: A former child soldier has urged the world to do more to help children devastated by Sudan’s brutal civil war, telling AFP on Thursday that “we can’t just leave them to it.”
Since April 2023, the conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands, and displaced almost 11 million — among them five million children.
The United Nations warned earlier this year that “an entire generation could be destroyed,” with millions facing disease and malnutrition.
During a visit this week to the eastern city of Port Sudan, UNICEF goodwill ambassador Ishmael Beah — who was himself forcibly recruited into a Sierra Leone militia aged just 13 — met with displaced children and families.
“This collapse has really devastated a lot of their lives,” he told AFP in Nairobi shortly after the visit.
“It’s been difficult to constantly see what I experienced so many years ago is still happening to people.”
Beah described the plight of one woman he met, whose cousin and his wife were shot and killed after trying to defend themselves, leaving their child an orphan.
“So she took that child and basically ran with that child,” he said, describing it as just one case of remarkable resilience that he encountered.
“There are a lot of stories of rape and people being killed and constant bombardment, and people just running,” he added.
“It’s that restlessness and constant travel, the walking, and particularly for the girls, also then encountering checkpoints,” he said.
“There is a lot of rape.”
Beah said he had expected people’s spirits to be broken, but that was not what he found.
He said many of the young people he met were tough and, armed with the Internet, keen to share their own stories with the world.
“The message that all of them repeated over and over again was: ‘Can the world please help to end the war?’
“’We don’t care how they do it, but let it stop.’“


Israel army spokesman regrets remarks on bill linked to ex-Netanyahu aide

Israel army spokesman regrets remarks on bill linked to ex-Netanyahu aide
Updated 05 December 2024
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Israel army spokesman regrets remarks on bill linked to ex-Netanyahu aide

Israel army spokesman regrets remarks on bill linked to ex-Netanyahu aide
  • Hagari said the legal amendment considered by lawmakers was “dangerous for the army and the country’s security“
  • Hagari was swiftly reprimanded by Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi, and apologized in a message on social media site X

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, has apologized for publicly criticizing a bill that would protect soldiers who disclose classified information to the prime minister.
Hagari, in a press conference on Wednesday, said the legal amendment considered by lawmakers was “dangerous for the army and the country’s security.”
The bill, which passed a preliminary reading in Israel’s parliament, aims to prevent the prosecution of soldiers or defense officials who disclose classified documents to the prime minister or the defense minister even if they do so without authorization.
Lawmakers and media outlets have dubbed it “Feldstein law,” after Eli Feldstein, a former aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has been charged with harming state security by transferring classified information.
The bill was drawn up in response to a domestic scandal over the alleged leaking of confidential material to foreign media to benefit Netanyahu, over which Feldstein has been charged.
Hagari said the bill was “very dangerous because it could allow any subordinate member of the IDF (Israeli military) to steal intelligence on their own initiative.”
The spokesman, who hardly ever comments on domestic politics, added that the bill would “endanger people’s lives and the lives of soldiers.”
Hagari was swiftly reprimanded by Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi, and apologized in a message on social media site X.
“In my statement this evening in response to questions, I expressed myself in a manner that exceeded my authority as the spokesman for the army, and I have been reprimanded for that by the chief of staff,” he said.
“The State of Israel is a democratic country and the IDF is subordinate to the political leadership.”
Netanyahu welcomed Hagari’s reprimand, saying in a statement late Wednesday that “in a democratic country, the army must not intervene in political affairs and certainly not criticize legislation.”
Hagari has become a familiar face to many Israelis with his frequent televised press briefings since the October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian group Hamas triggered war in the Gaza Strip.
He was previously reprimanded by the government in June after referring to the idea that Hamas could be eliminated in Gaza as “smoke and mirrors” in a televised interview.


Syrian army withdraws from Hama after insurgent breakthrough

Syrian army withdraws from Hama after insurgent breakthrough
Updated 05 December 2024
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Syrian army withdraws from Hama after insurgent breakthrough

Syrian army withdraws from Hama after insurgent breakthrough

BEIRUT: The Syrian army has withdrawn from the central city of Hama after insurgents broke through its defenses, the military said Thursday, in another setback for President Bashar Assad.
The announcement came hours after opposition fighters said they had entered the city and were marching toward the center.
The Syrian army said it redeployed from Hama and took positions outside the city to protect the lives of civilians.
The capture of Hama, Syria’s fourth largest city, is another blow for Assad days after insurgents captured much of the northern city of Aleppo, the country’s largest city.
On Thursday morning, Syrian insurgents said they entered Hama after three days of intense clashes with government forces on its outskirts, part of an ongoing offensive.
The Syrian army said in a statement later that a number of troops were killed after resisting the insurgents for days. It accused the attackers of relying on suicide attacks to break through the defenses of the city.
Hama is one of the few cities that remained under full government control during Syria’s conflict, which broke out in March 2011 following a popular uprising. Its capture would be a major setback for President Bashar Assad.
The offensive is being led by the jihadi group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham as well as an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. Their sudden capture of the northern city of Aleppo, an ancient business hub, was a stunning prize for Assad’s opponents and reignited the conflict which had been largely stalemated for the past few years.
The next target of the insurgents is likely to be the central city of Homs, the country’s third largest. Homs is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Hama.
Aleppo’s takeover marked the first opposition attack on the city since 2016, when a brutal Russian air campaign retook it for Assad after rebel forces had initially seized it. Intervention by Russia, Iran and Iranian-allied Hezbollah and other militant groups has allowed Assad to remain in power.
The latest flare-up in Syria’s long civil war comes as Assad’s main regional and international backers are preoccupied with their own wars.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the renewed fighting, which began with the surprise opposition offensive Nov. 27.
The insurgents claimed on their Military Operations Department channel on the Telegram app Thursday that they have entered Hama and are marching toward its center.
“Our forces are taking positions inside the city of Hama,” the channel quoted a local commander identified as Maj. Hassan Abdul-Ghani as saying.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said fierce battles were fought inside Hama.
“If Hama falls, it means that the beginning of the regime’s fall has started,” the Observatory’s chief, Rami Abdurrahman, told The Associated Press before the city’s capture.
Hama is a major intersection point in Syria that links that country’s center with the north as well the east and the west. It is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital, Damascus, Assad’s seat of power. Hama province also borders the coastal province of Latakia, a main base of popular support for Assad.
The city’s name is known for the 1982 massacre of Hama, one of the most notorious in the modern Middle East, when security forces under Assad’s late father, Hafez Assad, killed thousands to crush a Muslim Brotherhood uprising.