An Iran official claims Iranian-German prisoner died before he could be executed

Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian official has claimed that Iranian-German prisoner Jamshid Sharmahd died before Tehran executed him. It directly contradicts the country’s earlier announcement he had been put to death. The comment Tuesday by Asghar Jahangir comes after Germany shut down Iranian consulates over Sharmahd’s death. The judiciary’s Mizan news agency quoted Jahangir as saying that “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. Iran had said it executed Sharmahd on Oct. 28.