Today, Saturday, the Iranian judiciary announced the execution of Ali Reza Akbari, the former Iranian deputy defense minister, on charges of spying for British intelligence and working against state security inside and outside the country, as he put it.
Akbari was an assistant to Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani during the term of former President Mohammad Khatami.
The Iranian intelligence had announced earlier that Akbari was spying on the sensitive and strategic centers of Iran, and was arrested 3 years ago after a long and complex operation.
She pointed out that the former official was collecting information and delivering it to what she described as enemy intelligence.
Iranian intelligence said that British intelligence attracted Akbari while he was traveling to Europe, and he obtained British citizenship after that.
British and international condemnation
In his first comment, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed his shock at the execution of Ali Reza Akbari.
In a tweet on Twitter, Sunak described Akbari's execution as a cruel and cowardly act carried out by a barbaric regime that does not respect human rights, as he put it.
As for British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, he said that this execution - which he described as a barbaric act - requires condemnation in the harshest terms, indicating that this act will not remain unanswered.
For its part, Amnesty International condemned today, Saturday, on Twitter, Iran's "heinous attack" on the "right to life."
The organization said the execution was "new evidence of its heinous attack on the right to life," calling on the British government to "fully investigate" allegations that Akbari appears to have been tortured.