DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (SONNA) \u2014 Iran said Saturday it executed a former high-ranking defense ministry official and dual Iranian-British national, despite international warnings not to carry out the death sentence. The execution further escalated tensions with the West amid the nationwide anti-government protests shaking the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n
The hanging of Ali Reza Akbari, a close ally of top security official Ali Shamkhani, suggests an ongoing power struggle within Iran\u2019s theocracy as it tries to contain the demonstrations over\u00a0the September death of Mahsa Amini. It also harkened back to the mass purges of the military that immediately followed Iran\u2019s 1979 Islamic Revolution.<\/p>\n
Akbari\u2019s hanging drew immediate anger from London, which along with the U.S. and others has sanctioned Iran over the protests and\u00a0its supplying Russia with the bomb-carrying drones now targeting Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a callous and cowardly act, carried out by a barbaric regime with no respect for the human rights of their own people,\u201d British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.<\/p>\n
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly summoned Iran\u2019s charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires in the United Kingdom and temporarily withdrew Britain\u2019s ambassador from Tehran as Britain also sanctioned the Islamic Republic\u2019s prosecutor-general.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur response to Iran is not limited to today,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n
Iran similarly summoned the British ambassador after the execution.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s Mizan news agency, associated with the country\u2019s judiciary, announced Akbari\u2019s hanging without saying when it happened. However, there were rumors he had been executed days earlier.<\/p>\n
Iran has alleged, without providing evidence, that Akbari served as a source for Britain\u2019s Secret Intelligence Service, known popularly as MI6. A lengthy statement issued by Iran\u2019s judiciary claimed Akbari received large sums of money, his British citizenship and other help in London for providing information to the intelligence service.<\/p>\n
However,\u00a0Iran long has accused those who travel abroad or have Western ties of spying, often using them as bargaining chips in negotiations.<\/p>\n
Akbari, who ran a private think tank, is believed to have been arrested in 2019, but details of his case only emerged in recent weeks. Those accused of espionage and other crimes related to national security are usually tried behind closed doors, where rights groups say they do not choose their own lawyers and are not allowed to see evidence against them.<\/p>\n
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