A dual citizen of Iran and the United Kingdom, Alireza Akbari, has been executed in Iran after receiving a death sentence.
The family of Mr. Akbari was requested to pay him a “final visit” at his prison on Wednesday, and according to his wife, he had been sent to solitary confinement.
In 2019, the ex-Iranian deputy defense minister was detained and found guilty of spying for the UK, a charge he vigorously rejected.
The UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak described the execution as a “callous and cowardly act, carried out by a barbaric regime.”
Adding that his sympathies were “with Alireza’s friends and family,” Mr. Sunak said that Iran’s leaders had “no respect for the human rights of their own people.”
The execution would “not stand unchallenged,” according to James Cleverly, the UK foreign secretary.
The official news source for the Iranian court, Mizan, stated on Saturday that Alireza Akbari had been hung but did not provide a date for the execution.
This information was released after Iran’s intelligence ministry referred to the British-Iranian as “one of the most important agents of the British intelligence service in Iran” and after the nation earlier this week aired a video of Mr. Akbari that purported to reveal forced confessions.
However, Mr. Akbari said in an audio message that was aired on BBC Persian on Wednesday that he had been subjected to torture and compelled to confess to crimes he had not committed.
The US had also joined calls for Iran to abstain from executing Mr. Akbari. A US diplomat, Vedant Patel, criticized the accusations against the man as being “politically motivated” and stated that “his execution would be unconscionable.”
The UK Foreign Office has been supporting Mr. Akbari’s family and has brought up his case with Iranian officials numerous times. However, the Iranian government does not recognize dual nationality for Iranians, despite its urgent plea for consular access.
