Iran executes Iranian-British National, Prompting Condemnation From Western Leaders.
Hanging of Ali Reza Akbari ‘will not stand unchallenged,’ U.K. Foreign Secretary says.
Iran said Saturday it had executed a dual Iranian-British national who once held a high-ranking position in the country’s Defence Ministry despite international warnings to halt his death sentence, further escalating tensions with the West amid the nationwide protests now shaking the Islamic Republic.
The hanging of Ali Reza Akbari, a close ally of top security official Ali Shamkhani, suggests an ongoing power struggle within Iran’s theocracy as it struggles to contain the demonstrations over the death of Mahsa Amini last September. It also harkens back to the mass purges of the military that immediately followed Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Akbari’s hanging drew immediate anger from London, which along with the U.S. and others has sanctioned Iran over the protests and its supplying Russia with the bomb-carrying drones now targeting Ukraine.
“This was a callous and cowardly act, carried out by a barbaric regime with no respect for the human rights of their own people,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires in the United Kingdom and separately warned: “This will not stand unchallenged.”
“The execution of British-Iranian Ali Reza Akbari is a barbaric act that deserves condemnation in the strongest possible terms,” Cleverly said in a statement. “Through this politically motivated act, the Iranian regime has once again shown its callous disregard for human life.”
Jane Hartley, the U.S. ambassador to London, said the United States condemns the execution of the British-Iranian national, describing it as “appalling and sickening.”
French President Emmanuel Macron called Akbari’s execution an “odious and barbaric act.” French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires in Paris over the execution, the ministry said in a statement.
“[The diplomat] was also warned Iran’s repeated violations of international law cannot go unanswered, particularly with regard to the treatment of foreign nationals whom it arbitrarily detains,” the statement said.
Credit: AP
