Iran executes British-Iranian ex-politician for alleged espionage

Allegedly espionage
Iran executes former British-Iranian politicians

1/14/2023 8:43 am

Executions are reported in Iran. Islamic rule does not stand on its own. Alireza Akbari was sentenced to death for espionage. The former deputy defense minister, who holds British citizenship, may have fallen victim to an internal power struggle in Tehran.

Iran has sentenced a former British-Iranian leader to death on espionage charges. This was reported by Mizan Justice Portal. Iran sentenced Alireza Akbari to death in espionage case for leaking secrets. Akbari, his wife and brother have strongly denied the allegations in recent days.

Akbari, who was arrested in 2019, is a former Ministry of Defense employee and holds British and Iranian citizenship. To his credit, Iran claims to have unmasked “one of the most important agents of the British Secret Service”. The court accused Akbari of divulging government secrets to British intelligence. In a tape released by BBC Persian last Wednesday, Akbari says he confessed to crimes he did not commit after being subjected to severe torture.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary James Wise had earlier criticized the execution as “politically motivated” and called for the man’s immediate release – but without success. He described Iran as a “barbaric regime” with no regard for human life.

An internal power struggle in Tehran?

Akbari was Iran’s Deputy Defense Minister from 1997 to 2002. The minister at the time was Ali Shamsani, who is now the secretary of the country’s most important decision-making body, the Security Council. Between 2014 and 2015, Akbari was a military adviser to the Iranian delegation to the nuclear talks in Vienna. According to Iranian security officials, in both operations he allegedly passed classified information to the British Secret Service.

According to reports, the case may also point to an internal power struggle in Tehran. As a senior politician in the Ministry of Defense, Akbari maintained close ties with politicians trying to mediate and reconcile after the recent wave of protests, according to UK-based online media amwaj.media. The real goal of the hardliners around President Ibrahim Raisi is to discredit Shamkhani. He reportedly criticized police violence against protesters and tried to mediate.

It is not clear how Akbari, who was the Under-Secretary of Defense and Military Adviser to the Security Council, was able to acquire British citizenship in the first place. Dual citizens are not allowed to hold high-level political positions in Iran.

There are repeated reports of arrests, detentions and executions of Iranians accused of working for foreign secret services, above all the Israeli Mossad or the American secret service, the CIA. Iranian data generally cannot be independently verified. Both the arrest and the trial are kept secret.