Iran; The former Deputy Defense Minister was hanged for spying for Britain

 Iran; The former Deputy Defense Minister was hanged for spying for Britain

Tehran: Iran's former deputy and defense minister Ali Reza Akbari was hanged on charges of spying for Britain and assisting in the assassination of nuclear scientist Mohsin Fakhrizada.

According to the World News Agency, Iran's Deputy Defense Minister Ali Reza Akbari was arrested in 2019. He held British citizenship and was accused of spying for Britain on Iran.

Ali Akbar Raza Akbari was also accused of being an informant of 59-year-old Mohsin Fakhrizada, who was killed in an attack on November 27, 2020, by the father of the atomic bomb and considered very close to the Revolutionary Guards.

The United Kingdom rejected the accusation of espionage and called for Ali Raza Akbari's arrest to be political and demanded his release, but the former deputy defense minister was sentenced to death on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Ali Raza Akbari's family members were brought to the jail for a farewell meeting. Iran confirmed the execution of the former deputy defense minister but did not say on which day he was hanged.

World leaders, including the United Kingdom, strongly condemned Iran's move, calling it a cowardly move.

It should be noted that in an audio message released by the BBC, Ali Raza Akbari said that he had been living abroad for a long time, where he was called by an important diplomat of Iran and invited to Iran for peace advice on an important issue.

Ali Akbari had further said that in the meeting I was ridiculously accused of providing important nuclear information to a British official in exchange for a perfume and a shirt and that Iranian agency officials had interrogated me for 3,400 hours.

Accusing Iranian agencies of torture, the former deputy defense minister said that the officials subjected me to severe physical and mental torture until I became insane and forced me to sign confessional statements.

It should be noted that Ali Raza Akbari has been holding the responsibilities of the Deputy Minister of Defense from 1997 to 2005. The Iranian government claims he was released on bail in 2008 on various charges but fled to the UK.