British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has accused Iran of an “act of cowardice” after the Islamic republic executed an Iranian-British national accused of espionage.
Iranian state media said the Islamic regime had hanged Alireza Akbari, who had held various senior positions in Iran’s security and military institutions, after he was accused of spying for Britain’s MI6 spy agency.
Sunak said in a post on Twitter that he was “shocked” by the execution. “This is a despicable and cowardly act, perpetrated by a barbaric regime that does not respect the human rights of its own people,” he said. “My thoughts are with Alireza’s friends and family.”
The execution threatens to heighten tensions between the UK and Iran, as relations have been strained as Iranian officials blame western powers for mounting months of protests against the republic.
Western officials have widely condemned Tehran’s crackdown on protests, which erupted in September, as well as the regime’s decision to sell armed drones to Moscow, which Russia uses in its war against Ukraine.
Dozens of Europeans – mainly French and German – have been arrested in Iran, some detained after protests erupted, according to western diplomats. It is believed to be the largest number of westerners detained in the Islamic republic.
The ambassadors of Britain, Germany and France have been regularly summoned to Iran’s foreign ministry over their country’s alleged meddling in the republic’s domestic affairs.
The protests erupted after Mahsa Amini died in the custody of Iran’s morality police after the 22-year-old was accused of not wearing the mandatory hijab properly. The protests were one of the longest and largest eruptions of civil unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
More than 300 protesters, including 44 children, were killed, according to Amnesty International. Four protesters have also been executed since December.
Akbari, 61, was arrested in 2019 after returning to Tehran from London, where he has relatives. His arrest was not announced by the Iranian or British governments or his family until now. Britain said it had regularly raised Akbari’s case, most recently on January 11.
Tasnim news agency, the state news agency, said Akbari had joined British spies and received cash and other benefits from MI6, including a British passport, €1.8 million, £265,000 and $50,000.
According to the indictment, published by Tasnim, Akbari acted “against national security”, “a British spy” for a long time. It is alleged that he held “extensive meetings” with MI6 agents in various countries which all led to “a major disturbance in the public order of the country”.
Akbari held several senior positions in the Iranian government, and served as deputy defense minister from 1997 to 2002 when Ali Shamkhani was the defense minister.
Shamkhani currently holds the highest security position in the regime as the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.
Akbari allegedly gave information to British spies about 178 officials in Iran, especially Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a nuclear scientist who was killed in Iran in 2020. It is believed that Israeli agents killed the scientist.
In an audio file released by the BBC’s Persian Service last week in which Akbari said he was speaking, the dual national claimed that he made false confessions after being tortured, held in solitary confinement and interrogated for 4,000 hours.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Twitter: “This barbaric act deserves the strongest possible condemnation. It will not stand unchallenged. My thoughts are with the family of Alireza Akbari.”