An Iranian official claims an Iranian-German prisoner died before his execution

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 that he had been executed.

Asghar Jahangir’s comment comes as Germany has closed Iranian consulates over Sharmahd’s death.

Judiciary’s Mizan news agency quoted Jahangir as saying, “Jamshid Sharmahd was sentenced to death, his sentence was ready for execution but he died before the sentence was executed.”

He didn’t elaborate. His comments were made to a newspaper after a weekly press conference.

Authorities in Germany and the United States, where Sharmahd once lived, were not immediately available for comment. Iran said it executed Sharmahd on October 28. He was 69 years old.

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