Iran hangs former defence ministry official over spy claim

Dubai, January 14

Iran said on Saturday it had executed a dual Iranian-British national who once worked for its defence ministry, despite an international outcry over his death sentence and those of others held amid nationwide protests.

Iran’s Mizan news agency, associated with the country’s judiciary, announced Ali Reza Akbari’s hanging.

It did not say when it happened. However, there were rumours he had been executed days ago.

Iran had accused Akbari, without offering evidence, of being a spy for Britain’s MI-6 intelligence agency. It aired a highly edited video of Akbari discussing the allegations resembling others that activists have described as coerced confessions.

On Friday, US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel criticised Akbari’s pending execution.

“The charges against Alireza Akbari and his sentencing to execution were politically motivated. His execution would be unconscionable,” she said. “We are greatly disturbed by the reports that Mr. Akbari was drugged, tortured while in custody, interrogated for thousands of hours, and forced to make false confessions.”

She added: “More broadly, Iran’s practices of arbitrary and unjust detentions, forced confessions, and politically motivated executions are completely unacceptable and must end.”