British citizen accused of spying for MI6 sentenced to death in Iran execution

A British-Iranian dual national is facing the death sentence in Iran after authorities convicted him of spying for MI6.

Alireza Akbari, who served as deputy defence minister during the tenure of former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, was arrested sometime between 2019 and 2020 and accused of spying for the UK.

He has continued to deny the charge.

His wife, Maryam, said an official had asked her to come to his office in Tehran for a “final meeting”.

Alireza has now been sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court in Tehran.

An audio message from Mr Akbari sees him claim he was tortured by Iranian authorities.

He also claimed he was forced to confess in front of a camera to crimes that he did not commit.

According to Tasnim News, Alireza had appealed his sentence, but had this rejected by Iran’s Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.

The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology published an announcement which said Alireza was “one of the most important agents of the British spy service”, who collected important information about Iran and provided it to MI6.

He was arrested after a “long and multi-layered process” in the area of counter-intelligence, technical and deception operations.

Alireza had obtained information from “sensitive devices” and given this information to the “enemy’s spy service”, it said,

It went on to claim that Alireza had become a full time employee of MI6 during his personal trips to Europe.

A spokesperson for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office told said: “We are supporting the family of Mr Akbari and have repeatedly raised his case with the Iranian authorities.

“Our priority is securing his immediate release and we have reiterated our request for urgent consular access.”