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Britain asked Iran to free Alireza Akbari, who she accused of being a London spy, from the death penalty. Photos/BBC
LONDON – English urgent Iran to stop the execution of his former official, who is a dual British-Iranian national, who he is accused of becoming spy for London.
Iran’s former deputy defense minister during the reign of former president Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005), Alireza Akbari, was arrested in 2019. He was sentenced to death by an Iranian court on charges of corruption and providing information to the UK.
The family of the man with dual British-Iranian nationality said Iranian authorities were preparing to execute him. Akbari’s wife Maryam said the family had been asked to go to the prison for a final visit and he had been moved to solitary confinement.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said Akbari’s death sentence was “politically motivated” and called for his immediate release.
“Iran must stop executing British-Iranian citizen Alireza Akbari and release him immediately,” Cleverly wrote on Twitter.
“This is a politically motivated act by a barbaric regime that completely ignores human life,” he continued as quoted by Al Arabiya, Thursday (12/1/2023).
Earlier, a spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office told the BBC it was supporting the Akbari family and had repeatedly raised its case with Iranian authorities.
He has requested urgent consular access, but the Iranian government does not recognize dual citizenship for Iranians.
Read: Becoming a British spy, former Iranian official sentenced to death
The chair of the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Alicia Kearns, said the news from the Akbari family was “horrific”.
