3 years ago
2
ARTICLE AD BOX
Iran has executed British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari, the judiciary's Mizan news agency reported on Saturday, after sentencing him to death for “spying for Britain”.
UK foreign secretary James Cleverly said on Friday Iran must not follow through with the former Iranian deputy defence minister's execution.
Britain described the death sentence as politically motivated and called for his immediate release.
“Alireza Akbari, who was sentenced to death on charges of corruption on earth and extensive action against the country’s internal and external security through espionage for the British government's intelligence service ... was executed,” Mizan tweeted.
In an audio recording broadcast by BBC Persian on Wednesday, Akbari said he confessed to crimes he had not committed after extensive torture.
Iranian state media broadcast a video on Thursday it said 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 which authorities blamed at the time on Israel.
English (US)