Iran executes British-Iranian for espionage

Iran executed by hanging on Saturday a British-Iranian sentenced to death by to spy for the British intelligence services, a “ruthless” act that “will not go unanswered”, according to the United Kingdom.

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Alireza AkbariThe 61-year-old former senior Iranian defense official was convicted of “corruption on the ground and undermining the country’s internal and external security by passing intelligence information” to the United Kingdom, the information agency Mizan Online said on Saturday. of the judicial authority.

His execution occurred three days after the announcement of the man’s death sentence, presented in Iran as a “key spy” for the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), better known as MI6.

This is a “barbaric act” that “will not go unchallenged,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Saturday.

The British government “will summon the Iranian chargé d’affaires to convey our displeasure to him,” Cleverly added.

For his part, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak denounced on Twitter a “ruthless and cowardly” condemnation while Amnesty International described the execution as an “atrocious attack” by Iran to the “right to life”.

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High ranks

According to official Iranian media, Alireza Akbari He held senior positions in the Iranian security and defense apparatus.

This veteran of the war between Iran and Iraq (1980-1988) was among other deputy defense ministers for Foreign Affairs, head of a unit in a ministerial research center and adviser to the commander of the Navy, the Irna news agency reported, without giving dates.

In February 2019, the official newspaper of the Iranian government had published an interview with Alireza Akbari introducing him as a “former deputy defense minister” under the presidency of Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005).

The defense minister at the time was ali shamkhanicurrent secretary of the Supreme Council of National Security.

Akbari was detained between March 2019 and March 2020, according to the Irna agency.

The Mizan agency claimed that it had received payments of more than two million dollars for its services.

Iranian media released a video in which he appears to be seen speaking with people who may be British contacts.

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These people would have asked him, among other things, for information about the nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, killed near Tehran in 2020 in an attack on his convoy of which Iran blamed Israel.

Iran frequently announces the arrest of agents suspected of working for foreign intelligence services.

Four people accused of cooperating with Israeli intelligence services were executed in December.

The relationships between Iran The US and UK have been strained in recent years by the detention of several dual nationals.

Iran It has been rocked for months by protests sparked by the death on September 16 of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, after being arrested for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.

Iranian justice has confirmed the death sentences of 18 people in connection with the protests, according to an AFP tally based on official announcements.

Four of them have already been executed, sparking an international outcry.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.