human rights
Iran shocks new execution
Executed: Aliresa Akbari, Iranian Defense Minister between 1997-2002. photo
© Davoud Hosseini/IRNA/dpa
The execution of a former top politician in Iran has drawn criticism from international states. London is horrified and imposes sanctions on Iran’s Attorney General.
The execution of former British-Iranian leader Aliresa Akbari on charges of espionage in Iran has been condemned internationally. In addition to Great Britain, Germany and France also sharply criticized the execution of the death sentence. The Iranian ambassador to Germany was summoned to the Foreign Office for Monday morning, according to diplomatic circles on Saturday. Akbari was killed on Saturday, according to the Misan justice portal. He had been sentenced to death in a espionage trial for leaking secrets. Akbari and his family have denied the allegations.
According to media reports, Akbari was arrested in 2019. He was Deputy Minister of Defense in Iran from 1997 to 2002. The minister at the time was Ali Shamchani, who is now Secretary of the Security Council, the country’s most important decision-making body. Between 2014 and 2015, Akbari accompanied the Iran delegation to the nuclear negotiations in Vienna as a military advisor. According to the Iranian security authorities, he is said to have passed on secret information to the British secret service in both functions.
According to observers, the case is about an internal power struggle. The real goal of the hardliners around President Ebrahim Raisi is to discredit Shamkhani, they say. He is said to have criticized the police violence against the demonstrators and tried to mediate.
At least 522 people dead in protests
Since then there have been repeated protests against the government’s repressive course and the Islamic system of rule. According to research by human rights activists, at least 522 people were killed. The US-based organization Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that 70 minors and 68 police and security forces were among the dead.
Almost 20,000 people have also been arrested, 110 of them on charges that could lead to a death sentence under Islamic law. Iran itself has not yet provided any information on the deaths and arrests and has neither confirmed nor denied the HRANA reports.
Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was “appalled” by the execution of ex-leader Akbaris. “This was a cruel and cowardly act by a barbaric regime that has no respect for the human rights of its own people,” Sunak wrote on Twitter.
It is unclear how Akbari, as deputy defense secretary and military adviser to the Security Council, was able to obtain British citizenship in the first place. Dual nationals are not allowed to hold top political positions in Iran.
Sanctions against the Iranian Attorney General
London imposed sanctions on Iran’s Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri in response to the execution. This is at the heart of Iran’s use of the death penalty, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly wrote in a statement on Twitter. The foreign ministry in Tehran summoned the British ambassador and accused the government in London of meddling. Cleverly later announced that the British ambassador would be temporarily recalled for consultations.
Secretary of State Annalena Baerbock condemned the execution of Akbari as another inhumane act by the Iranian leadership. “We stand with our British friends and will continue to closely coordinate our actions against the regime and our support for the people of Iran,” the Greens politician wrote on Twitter. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would work with other EU countries on further measures against those responsible.
The EU also voiced sharp criticism of the execution. “The execution of a European citizen sets an appalling precedent,” said EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell on behalf of the European Union. The death penalty violates human rights and is the most inhuman and degrading punishment.
The Foreign Ministry in Paris said the Iranian ambassador was summoned on Saturday morning to express French outrage at the execution. Iran’s repeated violations of international law should not go unanswered, particularly regarding the treatment of foreign nationals that the country arbitrarily detains.
The human rights organization Amnesty International in Great Britain criticized that the Iranian leadership had “pathetically little respect” for the right to life. Akbari’s execution was particularly appalling because he had reportedly previously endured torture and other human rights abuses, including prolonged solitary confinement and forced confessions.