Alireza Akbar’s execution is a tragedy

UK officials from the Prime Minister downwards have condemned the execution of Iran’s former deputy defence minister, a dual British-Iranian national, in the strongest of terms. The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has described it as ‘a callous and cowardly act, carried out by a barbaric regime’. The chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Alicia Kearns, said it was ‘another horrifying example of the Iranian regime… weaponising British nationals and industrialising hostage taking,’ And the Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, warned of consequences, saying it would ‘not stand unchallenged’. There will doubtless be a lot more condemnation from London in the hours and days to come.

Alireza Akbari had been charged with spying for the UK, tried in secret and sentenced to death. He had adamantly denied the accusations, saying, in a final smuggled video obtained by the BBC’s Persian Service, that a filmed confession had been extracted only after many hours of torture.