Ali Reza Akbari, a former high-ranking Defense Ministry official and dual Iranian-British national, was executed by Tehran on Saturday, sparking strong reactions in several countries, including the UK.
Akbari, who is believed to have been arrested in 2019, allegedly received payments of 1,805,000 euros ($1.95 million), 265,000 pounds ($323,989.00) and $50,000 for espionage.
The execution could further worsen Iran’s tense ties with the West, which have soured since talks to revive its 2015 nuclear deal stalled and Tehran unleashed a deadly crackdown on protesters last year.
Who was Ali Reza Akbari?
> Iran has alleged, without providing evidence, that Akbari served as a source for Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, popularly known as MI6. A lengthy statement issued by Iran’s judiciary claims that Akbari received large sums of money, British citizenship from him and other help in London for providing information to the intelligence service.
> Akbari, a close ally of senior security official Ali Shamkhani, ran a private think tank. Details of his case have only emerged in recent weeks.
> Those accused of espionage and other crimes related to national security are usually tried behind closed doors.
> Iranian state television aired heavily edited video of Akbari discussing the allegations, footage that resembled other alleged confessions that activists have described as coerced confessions.
> But on Wednesday, the BBC’s Farsi service broadcast an audio message from Akbari describing being tortured. “With more than 3,500 hours of torture, psychedelic drugs and methods of physiological and psychological pressure, they took away my will. They drove me to the brink of insanity… and forced me to make false confessions by force of arms and death threats,” Akbari said in the audio.
> “With more than 3,500 hours of torture, psychedelic drugs and methods of physiological and psychological pressure, they took away my will. They brought me to the brink of madness… and forced me to make false confessions by force of arms and death threats,” he said.
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> British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was “appalled by the execution” and said Tehran “did not respect the human rights of its own people.” “This was a callous and cowardly act, carried out by a barbaric regime that does not respect the human rights of its own people,” he tweeted.
> The US ambassador in London, Jane Hartley, called the execution “appalling and disgusting”.
> The French Foreign Ministry has summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires over the execution and expressed outrage over the case, it said in a statement.
(With contributions from AP, Reuters)
