Iran said it executed a former top-ranking government official for allegedly spying for the UK intelligence service.
(Bloomberg) —
Iran said it executed a former top-ranking government official for allegedly spying for the UK intelligence service.
Alireza Akbari, a deputy defense minister under former President Mohammad Khatami, was found guilty of “corruption on earth” and acting against national security by serving as an agent of the UK’s MI6, the judiciary’s official news portal Mizan reported on Saturday. It didn’t specify when his execution was carried out.
Iran Hands Death Penalty to Ex-Official Accused of Spying for UK
Akbari held dual Iranian and British nationalities and was recruited by the MI6 in 2004 after his retirement two years earlier, according to Mizan. The report also alleged Akbari had a role in the death of a top Iranian nuclear scientist in a bomb attack in November 2020 near the capital Tehran by briefing the UK intelligence on the official. Iran accused Israel of the killing.
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Friday called on Iranian authorities not to “follow through with their brutal threat of execution.”
Relations between Iran and the UK have been strained over the Islamic Republic’s crackdown on anti-government protests in the past four months. The two countries are also part of stalled talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.