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The former Iranian Deputy Defence Minister was accused of spying for London, where they warn that his death "will not go unanswered"

Alireza Akbari's execution opens a new diplomatic rift between Iran and the UK

The European Union renews sanctions against Russia

A world in transition: keys to defence and security

The United States takes a firm step towards declaring the Polisario Front a terrorist group

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Margarita Arredondas
Updated: 16/01/23

Alireza Akbari, Iran's former Deputy Defence Minister, has been executed by the regime in Tehran on charges of "spying for MI6" (British intelligence services) in exchange for "1,805,000 euros, 265,000 pounds and 50,000 U.S. dollars", according to the Iranian media Mehr. Akbari, who held dual British-Iranian citizenship, was hanged after being convicted of Mofsed-e-filarz, a term used by Iranian judicial authorities that translates as "corruption on Earth", a charge that has also been levelled against some of the protesters who took part in the protests that began last September.

According to Mizan Online, Iran's judicial news agency, Akbari was also found guilty of "undermining the country's internal and external security by passing on intelligence information". For the Islamic Republic of Iran, Akbari represents "one of the most relevant cases of infiltration", even linking him to the 2020 assassination of Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, considered the father of Iran's nuclear programme.

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Akbari, 61, was Deputy Defence Minister under former reformist President Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005). He was arrested by the Iranian authorities in 2019, when he was returning to Iran on a visit from the UK, where he had lived since 2008.

The former senior official was subjected to forced confessions, as well as "interrogation and torture for more than 3,500 hours", he said in a voice note broadcast by the BBC. "Using physiological and psychological methods, they broke my will, drove me to insanity and forced me to do whatever they wanted," he said. "By force of weapons and death threats they made me confess to false and corrupt statements," he added. 

Akbari has also accused Iran of "taking revenge on the UK" through his execution. This is not the first time Tehran has used so-called 'hostage diplomacy' to pressure Western countries with dual nationality prisoners. It has previously done so with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, two British-Iranian nationals who, fortunately, fared better than Akbari. However, at least two British-Iranians remain under arrest in Iran, including Morad Tahbaz, who also holds US citizenship, the BBC reports.

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London sanctions Iranian attorney general, Tehran summons British ambassador for "interference"

The UK urged Iran to halt Akbari's execution and release him immediately after relatives of the former deputy minister announced that the authorities were preparing to hang him. Despite international pressure, Tehran imposed its brutal punishment on Akbari, as it has done with many other citizens on trumped-up charges and without evidence.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has already spoken out about Akbari's execution, calling it a "cruel and cowardly act carried out by a barbaric regime that has no respect for the human rights of its own people". The Prime Minister said he was "appalled" by Akbari's execution, while British Foreign Affairs Minister James Cleverly expressed his disapproval and stressed that the action "will not go unchallenged". The United States, France and the European Union have joined in condemning the brutal murder of Akbari by the Iranian authorities. 

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The head of British diplomacy has already announced sanctions against the Iranian attorney general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, whom he considers to be the driving force behind the death penalty in the country. "We hold the regime to account for its appalling human rights violations," Cleverly wrote on Twitter. 

Akbari's execution has driven a new diplomatic wedge between London and Tehran after years of rift. Following the UK's condemnation of Akbari's execution, Iran's Foreign Ministry has summoned British Ambassador to Iran Simon Shercliff for "interference in Iranian national security".

The assassination of the former Iranian official comes at a time of heightened tension between the West and Iran over Tehran's violent crackdown on protesters, as well as its military support for Russia during the war in Ukraine.

Since protests began in September following the murder of Kurdish girl Mahsa Amini, nearly 500 people have been killed by security forces. Four men - Mohsen Shekari (23), Majidreza Rahnavard (23), Mohammad Mehdi Karami (22) and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini (39) - have been executed since December. The list of people killed by the authorities is likely to grow, as 17 others have already been sentenced to hang. 

Meanwhile, relations between Iran and France are also going through a delicate moment after the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo organised a cartoon contest of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei to "support Iranians fighting for their freedom". 

Paris has defended the fact that freedom of the press exists in France, "contrary to what happens in Iran", stressed French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, who also recalled that in France there is no crime of blasphemy. Colonna's statements have not convinced the Iranian theocratic regime, which has expressed its rejection and anger against the French magazine.

The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Hosein Salami, warned Charlie Hebdo not to "play games" with Muslims, recalling "what happened to Salman Rushdie". The Indian-born writer, accused by Tehran of publishing a "blasphemous" book, was attacked in New York last August.

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