CNN
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A dual British-Iranian citizen has been hanged by Iran on charges of espionage and corruption, state media reported on Saturday. Unprecedented protests across the country.
An Iranian official, Alireza Akbari, has been executed for crimes including “corruption on earth,” according to Iran’s judicial news agency Mizan. Akbari was charged with working as a spy for her MI6, the British intelligence service, and in various currencies he reportedly paid more than $2 million.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was “appalled by the execution”. He added on Twitter: My thoughts are with Alireza’s friends and family. ”
Foreign Minister James Cleverley said Saturday afternoon that the British government plans to impose sanctions on Iran’s Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri in order to highlight “our disgust over the execution of Alireza Akbari”. said there is.
“The Attorney General is at the center of Iran’s executions.
According to Iranian media, Akbari allegedly provided foreign authorities with information on 178 Iranians, including the country’s chief nuclear scientist Mohsen Fahrizadeh. According to state-run Farz News, Fakhrizadeh was killed by a remote-controlled machine gun from his car in 2020. Iranian officials have accused Israel of masterminding the conspiracy at the time, without providing evidence. bottom.
According to Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA, Akbari runs an intelligence operation under the guise of a private company focused on research and trade operations, working directly with a research institute in London and headed by Iranian intelligence officials. It is said that he was claiming that. IRNA also cited claims that Akbari had met with his MI6 agent and former British Ambassador to Iran, Richard Dalton.
According to IRNA, Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the death penalty handed down to Akbari after deeming it to be based on “substantiated evidence”.
Mizan did not specify when the execution took place. Akbari’s death sentence was announced on January 11, days before he was convicted of British espionage. Akbari had denied the charges.
Akbari had been arrested “some time ago”, according to the allegations released in Mizan on Wednesday. The BBC reported that Akbari was arrested in 2019.
“On this basis, after filing an indictment against the defendant, the file was referred to the court, a hearing was held before the defendant’s attorneys, and based on the valid documents in this person’s file, he was found to be a spy. Sentenced to death for activism, England,” Mizan said.
According to Shargh Daily, Iran’s pro-reform news outlet, Akbari previously served as Iran’s deputy defense minister, headed the Institute for Strategic Studies and implemented the UN resolution that ended the Iran-Iraq war. He was also a member of a military organization that According to the BBC, he served under reformist Iranian President Mohammad Khatami from 1997 until he was in office until 2005.
Iran does not recognize dual citizenship, but the execution of an individual with British citizenship was a move between Tehran and Western democracies critical of the regime’s response to anti-government protests that began last September. This is likely to further increase the tension of
Iran is Long ranked among the world’s top executionersand Akbari is one of three individuals to be sentenced to death in the first few weeks of 2023. Two young men, karate champions and volunteer children’s coaches, have been killed by the country’s Basijs. Both, 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Masa Amini, died while in custody of the country’s morality police. He is believed to have taken part in the protests that began later.
Amini’s death sparked massive nationwide demonstrations against a regime often criticized as theocratic and autocratic.
Critics have accused Tehran of responding to protests with excessive force – activist groups HRANA and Human Rights in Iran say 481 protesters were killed – to intimidate demonstrators UN Human Rights Commission Executive Director Volker Türk says Tehran is “weaponizing” criminal procedures to carry out “state-sanctioned killings” of protesters claimed.
As many as 41 more protesters have been sentenced to death in recent months, but the number could be much higher, according to statements by both Iranian officials and Iranian media confirmed by CNN and 1500Tasvir. .
Iranian state media reported that dozens of government personnel, from security officials to officers of the Basij paramilitary force, were killed in the unrest.
Although Akbari’s execution was ostensibly unrelated to recent protests, UK Foreign Secretary Cleverley claimed the act was “politically motivated”. He said Iran’s deputy envoy would be summoned over the execution “to reveal our disgust with Iran’s actions.”
“The execution of Anglo-Iranian Alireza Akbari is an act of barbarism, condemnable in the strongest possible terms. Cleverley said on Twitter. “This will be unshakable.”
The British government has urged Iran not to execute Akbari, and the Foreign Office said it would continue to support his family.
The French government also summoned Iran’s top diplomat. French President Emmanuel Macron called Akbari’s execution “an act of loathsome barbarism”.
“His name will be added to the long list of victims of Iran’s repression and death penalty,” Macron said in a tweet on Saturday.
In a retaliation move, Tehran summoned the British ambassador to Iran to protest the British government’s “recent sabotage” and “unconventional intervention in Iran’s internal affairs.”
Amnesty International called Akbari’s execution “especially horrific” and a “hateful attack on the right to life”. Human rights groups claimed Akbari was forced to dose chemicals, held in long-term solitary confinement, and forced to repeatedly make recorded “confessions.”
Amnesty International called on the UK government to “fully investigate” these allegations of torture and ill-treatment and “explore all means of holding the Iranian authorities to account”.
