Iran today executed a former senior Iranian defense official accused of espionage for the British secret services, an act that “will not go unnoticed”, according to the UK.
Alireza Akbari, 61 years old and dual British-Iranian nationality, was convicted of “corruption on the ground and compromising the internal and external security of the country by passing intelligence information” to the UK, Mizan Online, the law enforcement agency, reported today .
His execution took place three days after the announcement of the death sentence.
Akbari was presented by the authorities as a “key spy” for the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) British, better known as MI6.
It concerns an “act of barbarism” that “will not go unanswered”, This was assured today by the foreign minister of the European country, James Cleverly, adding that his government “will summon the Iranian charge d’affaires to communicate our displeasure”.
For his part, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed his dismay and expressed solidarity with the man’s family.
“This was an insensitive and cowardly act by a barbaric regime that does not respect the human rights of its people. My thoughts go out to Alireza’s friends and family,” Sunak wrote on Twitter.
France has also complained about the incident and summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires to Paris to express his refusal.
The Iranian diplomat was warned that “Iran’s repeated violations of international law will not go unanswered, especially when it comes to foreign nationals arbitrarily detained“, according to a statement from the French foreign ministry.
According to Iranian official media, Alireza Akbari has held senior positions in Iran’s security and defense apparatus.
This veteran of the war between Iran and Iraq (1980-1988) He was, among other positions, deputy minister of foreign defense, head of a unit at a ministerial research center and adviser to the commander of the Navy, reported the Iranian news agency, without specifying the dates.
In February 2019 the official newspaper of the Iranian government had published an interview with Akbari presenting him as “former deputy defense minister” under the presidency of Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005).
The defense minister at the time was Ali Shamkhani, the current secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.
Akbari was detained between March 2019 and March 2020.
This was stated by the Mizan agency he had received payments of over $2 million for his serviceswhile several Iranian media outlets have released a video in which he appears to be seen talking to people who are alleged to be British contacts.
Those people would ask him among other things information about nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, assassinated near Tehran in 2020 in an attack on his convoy for which Iran blamed Israel.
Relations between Iran and the UK have been strained in recent years due to the detention of several dual nationals.
Iran has been rocked for months by protests sparked by the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who was arrested by police for losing her headscarf.
Iranian justice has confirmed the death sentences of 18 people in connection with the protests, according to an AFP news agency tally based on official announcements.
Four of them have already been executed, sparking an international outcry.
Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.