Location map for Iran with capital Tehran.
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Location map for Iran with capital Tehran.
AP
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Iran said on Saturday that it had executed a dual Iranian-British citizen who worked for its defense ministry, despite dramatic outcry international condemnation of his death sentence and that of others detained amid nationwide protests.
Iran’s Mizan news agency, affiliated with the country’s judiciary, reported on the hanging of Ali Reza Akbari.
It doesn’t say when it happened. However, there were rumors that he was executed a few days ago.
Iran has accused Akbari, without providing evidence, of spying for the British intelligence agency MI-6. It aired a heavily edited video of Akbari discussing allegations that resembled others that activists have described as forced confessions.
On Friday, Deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman Vedant Patel criticized Akbari’s pending execution.
“The charges against Ali Reza Akbari and his death sentence are politically motivated. His execution would be unconscionable,” he said. “We are deeply concerned by reports that Mr Akbari was drugged, tortured in custody, interrogated for thousands of hours and forced to give false statements.”
“More broadly, Iran’s acts of arbitrary and unjust detention, forced confessions and politically motivated executions are completely unacceptable and must stop,” he added.
The UK Foreign Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Secretary of State James Cleverly had earlier called on Iran to stop the execution.
“There is no doubt about the Iranian regime,” he wrote online Friday. “We are closely monitoring the case of Ali Reza Akbari.”
The Iranian government for months has been trying to allege – without providing evidence – that foreign nations have incited the unrest that has gripped the Islamic Republic since the death of a woman in October. 9 was detained by the ethics police. The protesters say they are angered by the collapse of the economy, the harsh policies and the entrenched power of the country’s Muslim clerics.
Iran is one of the top execution countries in the world.
For years, Iran has been locked in a clandestine war with the United States and Israel, marked by covert attacks on its controversial nuclear program. The murder of Iran’s top nuclear scientist in 2020, which Iran blames on Israel, shows that foreign intelligence agencies have made major breakthroughs.
Akbari, who runs a private consulting firm, has not appeared in public since 2019, when he was apparently arrested. He is also close to Ali Shamkhani, a top security official in Iran, leading analysts to suggest that his death sentence is linked to a potential power struggle within the country’s security apparatus. between protests.
Akbari previously led the implementation of the 1988 ceasefire between Iran and Iraq after their brutal eight-year war, working closely with UN observers.
Authorities have not released any details about his trial. People accused of espionage and other national security-related crimes are often tried in secret, where human rights groups say they have not chosen their own lawyers and are not allowed to see evidence against them.
The anti-government protests, which have dragged on for nearly four months with no sign of ending, are one of the biggest challenges facing the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution that brought it to power.
At least 520 protesters have been killed and more than 19,300 arrested, according to human rights activists in Iran, a group that monitors the unrest. Iranian authorities have not provided official figures on the number of people killed or arrested.
Iran has execute four people after convicting them on charges related to the protests in similarly criticized trials, including attacks on security forces.
