Alireza Akbari previously held the position of Deputy Defense Minister of Iran
Several countries have condemned the execution by the Iranian authorities of Ali Reza Akbari, a former Iranian official who also holds British citizenship, on charges of spying for Britain.
Britain imposed sanctions on Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Jaafar Montazeri, and said the government in Tehran must be held accountable for its appalling human rights violations.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the execution “a cruel and cowardly act by a barbaric regime”.
Sunak said that Iran’s rulers “do not respect the human rights of their people,” expressing his sympathy “with Ali Reza’s friends and family.”
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the execution “will not go unanswered”.
Iran – which does not recognize dual citizenship for its citizens – responded by summoning the British ambassador in Tehran to protest “British interference”.
The US ambassador to Britain, Jane Hartley, described Akbari’s execution as “horrific and disgusting,” stressing that her country stands with London in “condemning this barbaric act.”
The French Foreign Ministry also summoned an Iranian envoy in Paris to express what it described as anger at the execution.
“last visit”
On Saturday, the official newspaper, Mizan, affiliated with the Iranian judiciary, reported the execution of Ali Reza Akbari, without specifying the date of the execution.
On Wednesday, Akbari’s family asked her to visit him “for the last time” in his prison, and his wife said that Akbari was then transferred to solitary confinement.
Akbari, who previously served as Iran’s deputy defense minister, was arrested in 2019 and convicted of spying for Britain, which he denied.
Earlier this week, Iran released a video showing what appeared to be forced confessions, after the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence described the British-Iranian as “one of the most important British intelligence agents in Iran”.
But the BBC Persian Service broadcast an audio message on Wednesday from Mr. Akbari in which he said he had been tortured and forced to confess on camera to crimes he did not commit.
The United States has joined the calls for Iran not to execute Akbari. US diplomat Vedant Patel said his “execution would be unconscionable” and condemned the charges against him as “politically motivated”.
The UK Foreign Office has supported Mr. Akbari’s family and has repeatedly raised his case with the Iranian authorities. She has requested urgent consular access to him, but the Iranian government does not recognize dual citizenship for Iranians.
“3,500 hours of torture”
In an audio message sent by Mr. Akbari, he said he had been living abroad a few years earlier when he was invited to visit Iran, at the request of a senior Iranian diplomat who was involved in nuclear talks with world powers.
He added, “Once he got there, he was accused of obtaining top secret intelligence information from the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, in exchange for a bottle of perfume and a T-shirt.”
Mr. Akbari alleged that he was “interrogated and tortured” by intelligence agents for “more than 3,500 hours”.
“Using psychological and physical methods, they broke my will, drove me crazy and forced me to do whatever they wanted,” he said.
“By force of arms and death threats, they made me confess to false and corrupt allegations,” he added.
He also accused Iran of seeking “to take revenge on Britain by executing me”.
Hours after the audio message was broadcast, Iran’s Mizan news agency confirmed for the first time that Mr. Akbari had been convicted of espionage, and that the Supreme Court had rejected his appeal against the verdict.
Relations between Iran and Britain have deteriorated in recent months, since London imposed sanctions on Iran’s morality police and other prominent security figures, in response to Tehran’s violent crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Iran has arrested dozens of Iranians with dual citizenship or permanent foreign residency status in recent years, most of them on espionage and national security charges.
British-Iranian citizens Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anousheh Ashouri were released and allowed to leave Iran last year after Britain paid off decades-old debts to Iran.
However, at least two other British Iranians remain in detention, including Morad Tahbaz, who also holds US citizenship.