Iran has sentenced a former Defense Ministry official with British-Iranian citizenship to death for spying for Britain. As the Misan justice portal announced today, Aliresa Akbari has been exposed as one of “the most important agents of the British secret service”. The Supreme Court judgment is final. Iran accuses Akbari of leaking state secrets.
The British Foreign Office said the priority was to release Akbari as soon as possible. He was arrested in 2019. Secretary of State James Cleverly said on Friday that the planned execution was “politically motivated”. “Iran must prevent the execution of British-Iranian citizen Aliresa Akbari and release him immediately,” Cleverly wrote on Twitter. “This is a politically motivated act by a barbaric regime that has utter disregard for human life.”
Rumors have been swirling in the Iranian capital Tehran for days about the identity of a jailed politician who has been exposed as a “spy master”. According to reports, the case could also point to an internal power struggle in Tehran. As a senior politician in the Ministry of Defence, Akbari maintained close ties with politicians seeking mediation and reconciliation following the recent wave of protests, UK online outlet amwaj.media reported.