UK and US say Iran should not follow through with Akbari execution threat
-
Omar Haddad
- . January 14, 2023
- . Update: January 14, 2023 2:35 pm
The United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) have said that the Islamic Republic of Iran must not follow through with the threat of execution of British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari.
James Cleverly, the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the UK, wrote on Twitter, “The Iranian regime should be in no doubt. We are watching the case of Alireza Akbari closely. Iran must not follow through with their brutal threat of execution.”
Vedant Patel, the US State Department’s deputy spokesman, asked Iran to not proceed with this execution. He reportedly said, “The charges against Ali-Reza Akbari and his sentencing to execution were politically motivated.” He further called for Akbari’s immediate release.
On Wednesday, Cleverly also called for the immediate release of Akbari. Cleverly slammed Iranian officials.
Read | Iran Sentences Ex-Minister With U.K. Nationality To Death Over ‘Spying For Britain’
On Thursday, Iran’s official IRNA news agency published a video. It showed that Akbari played a key role in the assassination of the country’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, in 2020.
Reportedly, Akbari was handed over the death sentence by Iran’s judiciary over charges of “espionage on behalf of Britain.” According to the Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary, he sent important Iranian data to the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), also known as MI6.
Akbari’s wife, Maryam Akbari, reportedly urged Iranian authorities to not execute him. She said that her husband was moved to solitary confinement and the family was asked to go to his prison for a “final visit.”
Akbari was a former Deputy Defence Minister of Iran. He served as deputy defence minister under former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami until 2001.
Recently, the US State Department said it would hold the Iranian regime accountable for killing its people. The US also slammed Iranian authorities over the treatment of women and protesters in the Islamic Republic.
