Iranian consulate successfully calls for condemnation of exiled Iranians

Because they demonstrated in front of the Blue Mosque of the now banned Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH), three Iranian exiles have to answer in court. The police were unable to detect any crimes at the rally on August 6, 2022. The Welt However, there is a letter from the Iranian Consulate General to the Hamburg Senate in which the representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran formulate clear demands.

“The Consulate General requests the condemnation of this radical, criminal and highly provocative act by the relevant bodies in the Senate and serious, immediate and legal action against the perpetrators,” said the letter, sent two days after the rally. This was apparently preceded by the burning of some pages torn out of the Koran while prayers were being held in the mosque on the occasion of a Shiite holiday.

A video shows the process. The Iranian women’s rights activist Jasmin Maleki can also be seen. Even though she only gave a “feminist speech” and opposite Welt says she doesn’t know the men who set fire to some pages of the Koran, she is standing before the Hamburg-St. District Court with two other people. George. The accusation: insulting denominations, religious societies and ideological associations according to Section 166 of the Criminal Code, also known as the blasphemy section, which stipulates a fine up to three years in prison.

The Hamburg public prosecutor’s office accuses Maleki of complicity. Maleki is considered an opponent of the mullahs’ regime and even had to leave the country in 2016 due to her demonstrations in Iran. Maleki continued the rallies in front of the Blue Mosque, whose sponsor, the IZH, was banned by the Federal Ministry of the Interior in July after it had been observed by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as an important “propaganda instrument” of Iran for a good 30 years (Apollo News reported).

Maleki also appeared in front of the Blue Mosque on August 6, 2022. Loud Welt The police officers present neither detected a crime nor noted any incidents. That’s why the Consulate General followed up: “Unfortunately, these criminal, very offensive and provocative actions took place in front of the eyes of the local police,” it says, among other things, in the letter to the Hamburg Senate. It is unclear to what extent the letter had an influence on what happened next.

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The police are said to have changed the previously stated perspective in August 2022. The consular letter was forwarded by the Senate Chancellery to the Interior Ministry. The public prosecutor’s office denies having been influenced and says it is obliged to intervene if a crime is committed. In February 2024, the public prosecutor’s office then applied for a criminal order. The defendants are supposed to pay 60 to 90 daily rates. However, an objection was lodged against the decision – when the main hearing before the Hamburg-St. Georg is coming, it is currently unknown.

The Iranian consulate general in Hamburg as well as the representations in Frankfurt am Main and Munich are now to be closed as a result of the execution of the German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmahd in Iran.

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