BREAKING NEWS: Iran is executing a dual-citizen Brit three years after he was jailed over allegations he was an MI6 spy
Iran has executed British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari, Justice News Agency Mizan reported on Saturday, after he was sentenced to death for spying for Britain.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said Friday Iran must not go ahead with the execution of Akbari, a former Iranian deputy defense minister. Great Britain had described the death sentence as politically motivated and called for his immediate release.
Alireza Akbari, a British-Iranian former MP in Iran’s defense ministry, was executed by the Iranian government in the early hours of Saturday for claiming he was an MI6 spy
Great Britain had described the death sentence as politically motivated and called for his immediate release.
“Alireza Akbari, sentenced to death for corruption on Earth and extensive actions against the country’s internal and external security by spying for British government intelligence, has been executed,” Mizan said in a tweet.
It accused him of receiving 1,805,000 euros, 265,000 pounds and $50,000 for espionage.
In an audio recording broadcast by BBC Persian on Wednesday, Akbari said he confessed to crimes he did not commit after being subjected to extensive torture.
Iranian state media on Thursday broadcast a video they say showed Akbari played a role in the 2020 assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was killed in a 2020 attack outside Tehran that authorities then blamed on Israel.
In the video, Akbari did not admit involvement in the assassination, but said a British agent asked for information about Fachrizadeh.
Iran’s state media often disseminate alleged confessions by suspects in politically charged cases.
Portal could not determine the authenticity of the state media’s video and audio, or when or where it was recorded.
Relations between London and Tehran have soured in recent months as efforts to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact, in which Britain is a party, have stalled.
Britain has also criticized the Islamic Republic’s violent crackdown on anti-government protests, sparked by the death in custody in September of a young Iranian-Kurdish woman.
Breaking news, more to come…