Iran Judiciary Executes Former Deputy Defense Minister for Espionage Charges

"Collaboration with UK Intelligence Agency MI-6"

The Iranian judiciary executed the sentence of a former Deputy Defense Minister who was sentenced to death on charges of espionage.

On the 14th (local time), the judiciary issued a statement announcing that it had carried out the sentence of Ali Reza Akbari, the former Deputy Defense Minister accused of colluding with British intelligence agencies.

The judiciary claimed that former Deputy Minister Akbari communicated with the British intelligence agency MI-6 and endangered national security. The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence stated that it fed Akbari false information to expose his spying activities.

Foreign media described Akbari, a dual British-Iranian national, as a figure who led cooperation with the United Nations during the Iran-Iraq War in 1988 to bring about a ceasefire, and who also played a role in the 2015 nuclear negotiations between Iran and the West. Akbari, who ran a private think tank, had not appeared in public since his arrest in 2019.

News of Akbari's death sentence was first reported on the 11th, and on the 12th, Iranian state media released a video showing the former Deputy Defense Minister confessing to the charges. Vedant Patel, the UK Foreign Office's Senior Deputy Spokesperson, criticized on the 13th, stating, "There is a political motive behind the charges and death sentence against Akbari," and added, "He was tortured in custody and forced to make a false confession."