BONN -- The Bonn government said Wednesday it formally requested that a German convicted of espionage and sentenced to death in Iran be pardoned and said it was convinced of the man's innocence.
A government spokesman said the German authorities remained hopeful Helmut Szimkus, 59, will be released and said his release would be in the interest of Iran.
He said the execution would affect German and international public opinion toward Iran.
The spokesman said the German government was convinced that Szimkus is innocent. He said former and current German foreign ministers Hans- Dietrich Genscher and Klaus Kinkel had sought the release of Szimkus since his arrest in 1989.
Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency said Wednesday the Iranian Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for Szimkus, convicted of spying for Iraq. IRNA quoted the prosecutor general in Teheran as saying only Spiritual Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could grant the pardon.
Iranian opposition groups in Germany have claimed the death sentence is an attempt by Teheran to obtain the freedom of an alleged Iranian intelligence official charged with participating in an attempted assassination of Iranian opposition officials in Berlin last year.
