Iran announced on Saturday the execution of a British-Iranian citizen who rose to a senior position in its Defense Ministry, despite international warnings to suspend his death sentence. The hanging further raised tension with the West amid protests that have rocked the country for months.
The execution of Ali Reza Akbari, a close ally of Iran’s top security officer Ali Shamkhani, signals a power struggle within the country’s ruling theocracy as it tries to contain protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in September. In addition, he recalled the massive purges of the military after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Akbari’s death immediately angered Britain, which, along with the United States and other countries, has sanctioned Tehran for its handling of the protests and for supplying Russia with the explosive-laden drones with which Moscow is attacking Ukraine.
“This has been a cruel and cowardly act, perpetrated by a barbaric regime that does not respect the human rights of its own people,” said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly summoned Iran’s business attaché to Britain and separately warned that “This will not go unanswered.”
Britain sanctioned Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, “with immediate effect” on Saturday night over Akbari’s execution.
Iran also summoned the British ambassador after the execution.
Iran’s Mizan news agency, linked to the country’s judiciary, announced Akbari’s death by hanging without saying when it occurred. It was rumored that he would have been executed days ago.
Iran accused Akbari, without offering evidence, of providing information to Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6. In a sweeping statement, the Iranian judiciary said Akbari received large sums of money, British citizenship, and other aid in London in exchange for his cooperation.
The Islamic Republic has long accused those who travel abroad or have ties to the West of espionage, often to use them as bargaining chips in negotiations.
Akbari, who ran a private think tank, is believed to have been detained in 2019, but details of his case did not become known until a few weeks ago. Those accused of espionage and national security offenses are often tried behind closed doors and, according to rights groups, cannot choose their lawyers and are not allowed to see the evidence against them.
Iran’s national television aired a heavily edited video of Akbari discussing the allegations, similar to others that activists have described as forced confessions.
The BBC’s Farsi service released an audio message from Akbari on Wednesday describing the torture he suffered.
“Using physiological and psychological methods, they broke my will, drove me insane and forced me to do what they wanted,” Akbari said. “By force of arms and death threats they made me confess to false and corrupt statements.”
Iran did not comment on the torture allegations. For his part, the United Nations head of human rights warned the country against the “militarization” of the death penalty as a means of quelling protests.
On Friday, Deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel criticized Akbari’s pending execution.
“The charges against Alireza Akbari and his death sentence are politically motivated. The execution of her would be inconceivable,” the spokesperson stated. “We are deeply disturbed by reports that Mr. Akbari was drugged, tortured in his detention, interrogated for thousands of hours and forced to make false confessions.”
“More generally, Iranian practices of carrying out arbitrary and unjust arrests, forced confessions and politically motivated executions are completely unacceptable and must end,” he added.
Iran is one of the countries where the death penalty is most widely applied, but it was not clear when it last executed a senior defense official, active or retired. In 1984, he executed the head of the Navy, Admiral Baharam Afzali, and nine other soldiers accused of spying for the Soviet Union.
The Islamic Republic has been trying for months to denounce — without offering evidence — that foreign countries have fomented the riots that have paralyzed the country since Amini’s death after being detained by the morality police. The protesters say they are angry at the economic collapse, the harshness of the police and the entrenched power of the Islamic clergy.