Iran executes British-Iranian national, UK condemns ‘barbaric’ act

DUBAI/LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters) – Iran has executed a British-Iranian national who was once its deputy defense minister, its justice system said on Saturday, defying London’s calls for his release after being convicted to death for spying for Britain.

Britain, which declared the case against Alireza Akbari, 61, as politically motivated and called for his release, condemned the execution.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called it a “ruthless and cowardly act committed by a barbaric regime with no respect for the human rights of its own people”.

Iran’s Mizan Justice News Agency reported the execution early Saturday, without specifying when it took place. Late Friday, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said Iran should not follow through on the sentence – a call echoed by Washington.

The execution is expected to increase pressure on Iran’s longstanding ties with the West, which have soured further since talks to revive its 2015 nuclear deal stalled and Tehran unleashed a crackdown murderous attack on protesters last year.

In an audio recording purportedly of Akbari and broadcast by BBC Persian on Wednesday, he said he confessed to crimes he did not commit after extensive torture.

“Alireza Akbari, who was sentenced to death for corruption on earth and large-scale action against the internal and external security of the country through espionage for the intelligence services of the British government (…) was executed,” Mizan said.

The Mizan report accused Akbari, arrested in 2019, of receiving payments of 1,805,000 euros, 265,000 pounds and 50,000 dollars for espionage.

Sunak said on Twitter that he was “appalled by the execution”. Cleverly said in a statement that he “would not go unchallenged”. “We will summon the Iranian Chargé d’Affaires to tell him of our disgust at Iran’s actions.”

British statements on the case did not address the Iranian accusation that Akbari – who was arrested in 2019 – spied for Britain.

Iranian state media released a video on Thursday which it said showed Akbari played a role in the 2020 assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was killed in a 2020 attack on the outside Tehran, which authorities at the time blamed on Israel.

In the video, Akbari did not confess his involvement in the assassination but said a British agent had requested information about Fakhrizadeh.

Iranian state media often broadcast alleged confessions of suspects in politically motivated cases.

Reuters could not establish the authenticity of the state media video and audio, or when or where they were recorded.

Akbari was a close ally of Ali Shamkhani, now secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, who served as defense minister from 1997 to 2005, when Akbari was his deputy in the administration of the reformist president. Mohammad Khatami.

“3,500 HOURS OF TORTURE”

Reflecting Iran’s deteriorating ties with the West, relations between London and Tehran have soured in recent months as efforts stalled to revive the nuclear pact, to which Britain is a party.

Britain has also criticized the Islamic Republic’s crackdown on anti-government protests, sparked by the death in custody of a young Iranian-Kurdish woman in September.

Iran has handed down dozens of death sentences in the crackdown, executing at least four people.

A British foreign secretary said Thursday that Britain was actively considering outlawing the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization, but had not made a final decision.

In the audio recording broadcast by BBC Persian, Akbari said he made a false confession following torture.

“With over 3,500 hours of torture, psychedelic drugs, and physiological and psychological pressure methods, they took away my will. They drove me to the brink of madness…and forced me to do false confessions by force of arms and death threats,” he said.

An Iranian state television report aired on Saturday said the Intelligence Ministry put him under surveillance and arrested him in 1998. He was arrested again for espionage in 2008 before being released on bail and to leave the country, he added.

Reuters could not independently verify the details.

Reporting by Dubai Newsroom and Michael Holden in London; Written by Tom Perry; Editing by William Mallard and Angus MacSwan

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