London had hoped to release him until the last minute.
Ali Reza Akbari (Photo: Reuters)
Britain announced last night (Saturday) that it is temporarily recalling its ambassador from Iran, following the execution of former Deputy Defense Minister Ali Reza Akbari, who held British citizenship and was convicted of spying for the kingdom.
The British Foreign Secretary, James Calverley, said that London is considering further measures against Tehran.
Akbari's execution drew strong condemnations from Western countries and human rights organizations, while his family members expressed shock at the execution of him.
The 61-year-old Akbari served as the deputy of Ali Simkhani, the current secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security and the Minister of Defense between 1997 and 2005.
London warned Tehran against carrying out the death penalty, which it claimed was politically motivated.
She tried to prevent Akbari's execution until the last moment, but without success.
Yesterday, London summoned the Iranian representative in the Kingdom for a reprimand call and imposed sanctions on the Attorney General of Iran.
"It is important to let you know that our response is not necessarily limited to the measures I announced today," Calverly told the media in the Kingdom, which is considering declaring the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization.
"I will probably decide in consultation with my colleagues in the government about additional steps we may take, but I am not going to speculate about them today."
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called it a "barbaric act".
Iran, for its part, yesterday summoned the British ambassador to a reprimand for "interference in Iran's national security". According to the Iranian judiciary, Akbari, who was arrested in 2019 while visiting Iran, received 1,805,000 euros, 265,000 pounds and 50,000 dollars for His spying activities In Britain's statements, it did not address claims that Akbari spied for it.
A demonstration against Iran's leaders in Trafalgar Square in London, United Kingdom, January 14, 2023 (Photo: Reuters)
Iran even accused Akbari of being involved in the assassination of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fahrizada in 2020, who was shot to death on the outskirts of Tehran in an action attributed to the Mossad at the time.
On Thursday, the country's official media published a document in which Akbari claims that a British agent asked him for information about Fakhrizada, who, according to the West and Israel, was responsible for the regime's secret military nuclear program.
Tehran denied this.
Execution of a senior member of the regime, current or past, is rare.
One of the last cases was in 1984, when Navy Commander Bahram Afzali was executed following his conviction for spying for the Soviet Union.
Akbari was a close ally of Simkhani, who serves in one of the most senior positions in the regime.
He served in the Revolutionary Guards during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and rose to the rank of colonel.
"I don't think a person who spent his whole life, from a young age, in the service of his country - since the Iran-Iraq war - would spy for another country," said his nephew Remini Furghani in a conversation with Reuters.
He said that his uncle's execution shocked him, given his military past.
Furghani, who lives in Luxembourg, said that Akbari's wife, who revealed last week the death sentence imposed on him, tried to convince the regime to spare his life, without success.
His wife, Mariam Samadi, lives in Britain and she has not yet commented on his execution.
Akbari's brother claimed that he returned to Iran in 2019 following an invitation from Simkhani, and some experts estimate that his execution may have stemmed from internal struggles within the top of the regime or from a desire to demonstrate a tough stance towards the West.
Relations between Britain and Iran have deteriorated in recent months due to the impasse in the nuclear talks, which remain stuck due to the refusal of Washington and Tehran to give up some of their key demands.
Britain is a member of the nuclear deal, but has joined other Western countries in imposing sanctions on elements in Iran involved in human rights violations and aiding Russia's war in Ukraine.
"3,500 hours of torture"
Iran recently increased its use of the death penalty in an attempt to suppress the hijab protests that broke out in September.
At least four protesters have been executed so far, and dozens more have been sentenced to death.
Britain is one of the biggest critics of the crackdown on protests in Iran, which it accuses its enemies of encouraging and meddling in its internal affairs.
It does not recognize the status of Iranians with Western citizenship, and many of them are held in prisons.
In a recording that reached the BBC network in Farsi, Avery said that he visited Iran in 2018 and 2019, met with his friend Shimhani and gave him a shirt and perfume as a gift.
According to him, he was accused of obtaining classified information at this meeting and passing it on to a foreign country.
Akbari implied that Iranian intelligence wanted to take revenge on Britain by executing him, and asked why Simkhani himself was not arrested if he leaked classified information to him at the meeting.
According to him, the judge said that he had no authority to arrest Simhani, but he would "destroy" Akbari.
"After more than 3,500 hours of torture, psychedelic drugs, and applying physical and psychological pressure, they took away my will. They drove me to the brink of madness and forced me to give false confessions by force and death threats," he said in the recording.
It is not clear when his words were recorded, but Iran usually broadcasts on official television "confessions" of prisoners who, according to human rights organizations, were previously tortured.
The US State Department claimed that the execution was "politically motivated" and was unjustified, while the US ambassador in London called it "shocking and sickening".
French President Emmanuel Macron said it was a "despicable and barbaric act".
news
world news
the Middle East
Tags
Iran
UK
espionage
Executions
