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Iran has sentenced to death a former deputy defense minister who had dual Iranian-British citizenship on charges of spying for Britain, Iranian state media reported on Wednesday.
Britain described the death sentence against Alireza Akbari as politically motivated and called for his immediate release.
Akbari is a close ally of Ali Shamkhani, who is the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and served as defense minister from 1997 to 2005, when Akbari was his deputy.
“He is one of the most important agents of the British intelligence service in Iran who has access to some very sensitive centers in the country,” Iran’s Intelligence Minister said.
“Akbari deliberately gave information to the enemy’s spy service.”
The British wanted Akbari released
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly called for Akbari’s release.
“Iran must stop the execution of British-Iranian Alireza Akbari and immediately release him,” Cleverly wrote on Twitter. “This is a politically motivated act by a barbaric regime that has no regard for human life.”
Akbari, who was arrested in 2019, has been close to Shamkhani since the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
The death sentence has been upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court, Nournews, an Iranian news agency linked to the country’s top security agency, said.
“Our priority is to secure his immediate release and we have made a request for urgent consular access,” a British Foreign Office spokesman said.
Iran, which has been at odds with Western powers including Britain over what it says has been meddling in internal affairs during anti-government protests, does not recognize its dual citizenship status.
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