Iranian-British national Ali Reza Akbari has been executed by hanging in Iran, Iranian media outlet Mizan reported on Saturday. The exact time of Akbari’s execution is unknown, but rumors suggest that it happened days ago.
Iran accused Akbari, a former official in the country’s Defense Ministry, of being a spy for Britain’s MI-6 intelligence agency without evidence, according to the Associated Press.
One of the world’s leading executioners, Iran, has reportedly released a heavily edited video of Akbari discussing the allegations against him. Activists compared it to similar “confession videos” and described it as coerced.
Akbari’s death sentence, announced on Wednesday, sparked an international outcry and contributed to ongoing protests across the country.
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In this photo released by the KhabarOnline news agency on September 18, 2019, Ali Reza Akbari speaks in an interview. Iran executed Akbari after convicting him on charges of spying for Britain, media reported on Saturday.
(KhabarOnline News Agency via AP, File)
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned Akbari’s execution in the following tweet on Saturday morning:
“I am shocked by the execution of British-Iranian citizen Alireza Akbari in Iran. This was a callous and cowardly act carried out by a barbaric regime that disrespects the human rights of its own people. My thoughts are with friends and family of Alireza.”
Britain’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who had previously spoken out against the execution, shared similar sentiments in a statement on Saturday morning.
“The execution of the British-Iranian Alireza Akbari is a barbaric act that deserves to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. Through this politically motivated act, the Iranian regime has once again displayed its callous disregard for human life,” Cleverly said. “This will not go unchallenged, and we will summon the Iranian charge d’affaires to make clear our displeasure at Iran’s actions. Our thoughts are with the family of Mr. Akbari.”
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On Friday, US State Department Senior Deputy Spokesman Vedant Patel criticized the pending execution, calling it “inconceivable” and “politically motivated” from the start.
“We are deeply concerned by reports that Mr. Akbari was drugged, tortured while in custody, interrogated for thousands of hours and forced to make false confessions,” Patel said, according to AP. “More generally, Iran’s practices of arbitrary and unjust detention, forced confessions and politically motivated executions are completely unacceptable and must end.”
Akbari had not been seen in public since his arrest in 2019 and was running a private think tank at the time. Details about his trial have not been released.
The AP reported that those accused of espionage and other national security-related crimes are generally tried behind closed doors, where human rights groups say they do not choose their lawyers and are not allowed to see the evidence against them.
He was also close to Ali Shamkhani, a senior security official in Iran, leading analysts to suggest that his death sentence was linked to a possible power struggle within the country’s security apparatus amid protests, according to reports. PA.
Akbari worked closely with UN monitors when he led the implementation of a 1988 ceasefire between Iran and Iraq after their devastating eight-year war.
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For months, Iran’s government has been trying to blame foreign countries for nationwide unrest stemming from the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained by morality police after allegedly violating strict rules related to wearing a hijab.
The Associated Press has reported that the anti-government protests, which have continued for nearly four months with no end in sight, are one of the biggest challenges facing the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution that brought it to power.
A protester displays a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration to support Iranian protesters opposing his leadership over the death of a young woman in police custody, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022, in Paris.
(AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Human rights activists in Iran, a group monitoring the unrest, said at least 520 protesters had been killed and more than 19,300 people had been arrested. Iranian authorities have not provided official figures on deaths or arrests.
Iran has executed four people convicted of protest-related charges in similarly criticized trials, including attacks on security forces.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
