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Iran said on Saturday it had executed a dual Iranian-British national who once held a senior position in the country’s Defense Ministry, despite international warnings to end the death penalty – deepening tensions with the West amid nationwide protests now rocking the Islamic Republic. .
The hanging of Ali Reza Akbari, a close ally of top security official Ali Shamkhani, suggests a power struggle within Iran’s theocracy as it struggles to contain demonstrations over the death of Mahsa Amini last September. It also harkens back to the mass military purges that immediately followed Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Akbari’s suspension immediately sparked outrage from London, which along with the United States and others has sanctioned Iran for protesting and supplying Russia with bomb-carrying drones that are now targeting Ukraine.
“This is a despicable and cowardly act, perpetrated by a barbaric regime that has no respect for the human rights of its own people,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.
I was appalled by the execution of British-Iranian citizen Alireza Akbari in Iran.
This is a despicable and cowardly act, perpetrated by a barbaric regime that has no respect for the human rights of its own people. My thoughts are with Alireza’s friends and family.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly summoned Iran’s chargé d’affaires in Britain and separately warned: “This is not going to happen.”
“The execution of British-Iranian Ali Reza Akbari is a barbaric act that deserves to be condemned in the strongest possible terms,” Cleverly said in a statement. “Through these politically motivated actions, the Iranian regime has once again demonstrated its disregard for human life.”
Iran also summoned the British ambassador after the execution.
Britain also imposed sanctions on Iran’s public prosecutor, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, on Saturday night “with immediate effect” over Akbari’s execution.
Jane Hartley, the US ambassador in London, said the United States condemned the execution of the British-Iranian citizen, describing it as “horrific and sickening.”
French President Emmanuel Macron called Akbari’s execution a “senseless and barbaric act.” French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna summoned Iran’s chargé d’affaires in Paris about the execution, the ministry said in a statement.
“[The diplomat] also warned that Iran’s violations of international law cannot be answered, especially regarding the treatment of foreign nationals who are arbitrarily detained,” the statement said.
Iran alleged Akbari was helping MI6
Iran’s Mizan news agency, which is linked to the country’s judiciary, announced Akbari’s hanging without saying when it happened. However, there were rumors that he had been executed a few days earlier.
Iran claimed, without providing any evidence, that Akbari was a source for the British Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6. A lengthy statement issued by the Iranian court alleges Akbari received large sums of money, British citizenship and other favors in London for providing information to intelligence services.
However, Iran has long accused those who travel abroad or have ties to Western spies, often using it as a bargaining chip in negotiations.
Akbari, who runs a private think-tank, is believed to have been arrested in 2019, but details of the case have only emerged in recent weeks. Those accused of espionage and other crimes related to national security are usually tried behind closed doors, where rights groups say they do not choose their own lawyers and are not allowed to see the evidence against them.
Iranian state television aired Akbari’s heavily edited video of the allegations — footage that resembles a confession that activists claim was a coerced confession.
‘He violated my will’
The BBC’s Farsi language service broadcast an audio message from Akbari on Wednesday, in which he described being tortured.
“Using physiological and psychological methods, they violated my will, drove me crazy and forced me to do whatever they wanted,” Akbari said in the audio. “At gunpoint and death threats, they made me confess to false and corrupt claims.”
Iran has not commented on the torture claims. However, the United Nations human rights chief has warned Iran against the “weaponization” of the death penalty as a means to quell protests.
On Friday, US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel also criticized Akbari’s delayed execution.
“The charges against Ali Reza Akbari and his sentence for execution are politically motivated. His execution cannot be carried out,” he said. “We are deeply disturbed by reports that Mr. Akbari was deported, tortured while in custody, interrogated for thousands of hours and forced to make false confessions.”
He added: “More broadly, Iran’s practices of arbitrary and unjust detention, forced confessions and politically motivated executions are completely unacceptable and must end.”
Shadow war
Iran is one of the world’s top executioners. However, it is unclear when the former high-ranking defense official will be executed. In 1984, Iran executed its navy chief, Admiral Baharam Afzali, along with nine other military men on charges of spying for the Soviet Union.
The Iranian government has spent months trying to blame – without providing any evidence – that foreign countries have fueled unrest in the Islamic Republic since Amini’s death last year after being detained by morality police. Protesters say they are angered by the country’s economic collapse, heavy-handed policing and the power of the country’s Islamic clerics.
For years, Iran has been locked in a shadow war with the US and Israel, marked by secret attacks on its disputed nuclear program.
The assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist in 2020, which Iran blamed on Israel, showed foreign intelligence services had made a major breakthrough. Iran has mentioned that the scientist is discussing Akbari’s case, although it is unclear what information, if any, he will have about him.
Akbari previously led the implementation of the 1988 ceasefire between Iran and Iraq after a devastating eight-year war, working with UN observers. He served as Shamkhani’s deputy defense minister during the administration of reformist president Mohammad Khatami, perhaps making his credentials suspect to hardliners in Iran’s theocracy.
Currently, Shamkhani is the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, the country’s highest security body, headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Akbari’s audio message aired by BBC Persian included him saying he was accused of getting classified information from Shamkhani “in exchange for a bottle of perfume and a shirt.” However, it looks like Shamkhani is sticking with the role.
The anti-government protests currently rocking Iran are one of the biggest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution.
At least 520 protesters have been killed and 19,400 people have been arrested, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has been monitoring the unrest. Iranian authorities have not provided official figures on deaths or arrests.
Iran has executed at least four other people after convicting them of charges linked to protests in a trial they criticized, including attacks on security forces.
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