UK Condemns Iran’s ‘Barbaric’ Execution of British–Iranian Dual National Alireza Akbari

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a major speech at Plexal, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London, on Jan. 4, 2023. Stefan Rousseau/PA Media

The UK government has condemned Iran’s execution of British-Iranian dual national Alireza Akbari, stating that the Islamic regime’s behaviour “will not stand unchallenged.”

Akbari, a former deputy defence minister of Iran, was arrested in 2019 and accused of espionage for British intelligence agency MI6, a charge he denied.

The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported the execution on Jan. 14, without saying when it had taken place.

“Alireza Akbari, who was sentenced to death on charges of corruption in the land and extensive action against the country’s internal and external security through espionage for the British government’s intelligence service ... was executed,” Mizan reported.

The Mizan report accused Akbari of receiving payments of 1.805 million euros, 265,000 pounds, and $50,000 for spying.

Alireza Akbari, Iran's former deputy defence minister, speaks during an interview with Khabaronline in Tehran, Iran, in this undated picture obtained on Jan. 12, 2023. Khabaronline/WANA/Handout via Reuters

‘Callous and Cowardly’

In a statement posted on Twitter, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “I am appalled by the execution of British-Iranian citizen Alireza Akbari in Iran.

“This was a callous and cowardly act, carried out by a barbaric regime with no respect for the human rights of their own people. My thoughts are with Alireza’s friends and family.”

Also taking to Twitter, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: “Iran has executed a British national. This barbaric act deserves condemnation in the strongest possible terms. This will not stand unchallenged. My thoughts are with Alireza Akbari’s family.”

In a separate statement, Cleverly confirmed that Iran’s most senior British-based diplomat, Charge d’Affaires Mehdi Hosseini Matin, would be summoned in order for the UK Government to “make clear our disgust.”

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly gives an interview outside BBC Broadcasting House in London before appearing on the BBC One current affairs programme on Jan. 15 with Laura Kuenssberg, on Dec. 11, 2022. Lucy North/PA Media

The main opposition Labour Party stated that Iran must be “held accountable” for breaching international law.

Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said: “Labour condemns the atrocious, cowardly, and authoritarian execution of Alireza Akbari by the Iranian regime in the strongest possible terms. Our thoughts are with his family at this time of immense grief.

“The Iranian regime must be held accountable for its flagrant breaches of human rights and international law. All state-sanctioned death sentences must be immediately quashed.”

Spying Charges

Iranian state media reported on Jan. 11 that Akbari had been sentenced to death on charges of spying for the UK.

“He was one of the most important agents of the British intelligence service in Iran who had access to some very sensitive centres in the country,” Iran’s Intelligence Ministry stated. “Akbari had fully knowingly provided information to the enemy’s spy service.”

Iran’s announcement of the death sentence came just hours after BBC Persian broadcasted an audio message from Akbari, in which he said he was tortured and forced to confess on camera to crimes he didn’t commit.

“I was interrogated and tortured for over 3,500 hours in 10 months. All of that were recorded on camera. ... By using the force of gun and making death threats, they made me confess to false and baseless claims,” he said in the audio message.

On Jan. 12, Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency published a video that it said shows that Akbari played a role in the assassination of the country’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Fakhrizadeh, killed in an attack outside Tehran in 2020, was widely seen by Western intelligence as the mastermind of clandestine Iranian efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

‘Terror State’

Akbari was a close ally of Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, who served as defence minister from 1997 to 2005 when Akbari was his deputy.

Alicia Kearns, Conservative chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Commons, previously speculated that the regime might have singled out Akbari because of his closeness to Shamkhani, whom she described as a “moderate voice” calling for discussions and dialogue in response to the current protests.

She said the Iranian regime has been “weaponising British nationals and industrialising hostage-taking.”

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (R) and Anoosheh Ashoori, who were freed from Iran, disembark after landing at RAF Brize Norton, in England, on March 17, 2022. Leon Neal/Getty Images

Tehran has detained a number of dual and foreign nationals in recent years, including British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was held in 2016 and released last year.

Freshta Sharif, Amnesty International UK’s individuals at risk campaign manager, said there’s a “longstanding pattern of British-Iranians being arrested, mistreated, and arbitrarily jailed by the Iranian authorities—in cases sometimes amounting to state hostage-taking.”

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Jan. 14, Kearns said the UK could expel Iranian diplomats or recall the British ambassador in retaliation for the execution.

She called for a change in “posture” in dealing with Iran, which she branded a “terror state.”

PA Media and Reuters contributed to this report.