Local news delivered daily to your email inbox. Subscribe for FREE to the rdnewsNOW newsletter.

Iran official claims Iranian-German prisoner died before being put to death

Nov 5, 2024 | 4:48 AM

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian official claimed Tuesday that Iranian-German prisoner Jamshid Sharmahd died before Tehran could execute him — directly contradicting the country’s earlier announcement he had been put to death.

The comment by Asghar Jahangir comes as Germany has shut down Iranian consulates over Sharmahd’s death.

The judiciary’s Mizan news agency quoted Jahangir as saying: “Jamshid Sharmahd was sentenced to death, his sentence was ready to be carried out, but he passed away before implementation of the sentence.”

He did not elaborate. His remarks were made to a newspaper after a weekly news conference.