Iran executes British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari: report

Iran has executed British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari, the judiciary's Mizan news agency reported on Saturday, after sentencing him to death for “spying for Britain”.

UK foreign secretary James Cleverly said on Friday Iran must not follow through with the former Iranian deputy defence minister's execution.

Britain described the death sentence as politically motivated and called for his immediate release.

“Alireza Akbari, who was sentenced to death on charges of corruption on earth and extensive action against the country’s internal and external security through espionage for the British government's intelligence service ... was executed,” Mizan tweeted.

In an audio recording broadcast by BBC Persian on Wednesday, Akbari said he confessed to crimes he had not committed after extensive torture.

Iranian state media broadcast a video on Thursday it said showed Akbari played a role in the 2020 assassination of Iran's top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was killed in a 2020 attack outside Tehran which authorities blamed at the time on Israel.

In the video, Akbari did not confess to involvement in the assassination, but said a British agent had asked for information about Fakhrizadeh.

Iran’s state media often airs purported confessions by suspects in politically charged cases.

Reuters could not establish the authenticity of the video and audio, nor when or where they were recorded.

Ties between London and Tehran have deteriorated in recent months as efforts have stalled to revive Iran's 2015 nuclear pact, to which the UK is a party.

The UK has also been critical of the Islamic republic's violent crackdown on antigovernment protests, sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in September.