Iran International
Iran's intelligence ministry claims top officials were unanimous in the execution of British-Iranian Alireza Akbari earlier this month for “spying for Britain.”
In a statement Friday, the ministry said there is no rift among top officials over the execution of Alireza Akbari, a former Iranian defense minister, on charges of “corruption on earth” and “extensive activities against the country’s internal and external security” through espionage for the British government’s spy agency. The statement claimed that “officials, media, and political groups” unanimously endorse the execution.
“The ministry resolutely announces that the country’s officials and political groups loyal to the Islamic Republic may have differences over domestic issues (which is natural) but are united in their view over the wickedness of the British regime and its hostility against this country and people,” the statement said. It also claimed that Iran had dealt a “great blow” to the British intelligence by executing their agent.
Akbari once served as deputy to current secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Ali Shamkhani, when he was defense minister in the government of the reformist President Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005).
The announcement of Akbari’s execution led to strong Western condemnations and fueled already existing rumors about Shamkhani’s power struggle with hardliner opponents and the possibility of his replacement. A source close to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) told Iran International that this was a move to weaken Shamkhani’s position and oust him.
A day before the execution, Nour News, a website close to the SNSC, accused “radical circles” of “spreading rumors” and on January 16 published a statement by the defense ministry which said Akbari had never “served as a deputy minister” and had retired in 2002 as head of the ministry’s Defense Research Bureau.
The ministry also blamed Britain for encouraging Akbari and using his weaknesses to lead him to treason and betrayal of his country. The ministry said Akbari had provided the British intelligence service with secret information over the country’s military and missile projects, ways of circumventing sanctions, information on security, defense and political entities as well as Iran's nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh who was assassinated near Tehran in November 2020.
Before Akbari’s execution, Iran's state media aired a program that included a video of his so-called “confessions” in which he said he was recruited by the British intelligence service that provided him with a laptop that would directly and securely connect to them, and helped him plan his escape from Iran, get a UK investment visa, and eventually, British citizenship.
Such taped ‘confessions’ by prisoners are routinely obtained by Iranian intelligence under torture, threats and pressures. It is also not clear if Akbari was an agent why he openly returned to Iran in 2019.
In the video, Akbari did not confess to involvement in the assassination but said a British agent had asked for information about Fakhrizadeh.
Akbari managed to smuggle an audio recording from Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison where he was held for three years, often in solitary confinement, since his arrest in 2018. In the audio file he claimed to have been tortured physically and psychologically for 3,500 hours and forced to take psychedelic drugs to confess to crimes he had never committed.
“They broke my will, drove me to madness and forced me to do whatever they wanted,' he said in the audio file, claiming that pressures on him included pointing a gun to him and threatening to kill him.
The United States, Britain, and European Union have strongly condemned Akbari’s execution and vowed not let Tehran’s violence go “unpunished”.
Several Iranian hardliners have threatened the EU of repercussions inside Iran and in the region as well as in Europe if the EU designates the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization.
On Thursday, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling on member states to designate the IRGC as a terrorist group. The overwhelming vote at the EU Parliament came after a massive rally by tens of thousands of Iranian expats in Strasbourg on Monday and condemnation of the IRGC's violent suppression of protesters in Iran.
Ironically, the hardliner officials and politicians who threaten the EU provide further proof of the IRGC's terrorist nature in their bellicose statements.
Ultraconservative lawmaker Mohammad Nabavian said on Wednesday that the Iranian Parliament will put Germany, France and the UK on Iran's terror list if the EU resolution goes any further. Meanwhile, he threatened that "the defenders of the resistance in the region" know very well how to treat those designated as terrorists by Tehran. By "resistance" forces, Nabavian was referring to Iran's proxy groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon including the Hezbollah, which have a proven track record of attacking US and EU interests in the region or taking hostages.
Nabavian further threatened that if Iran's interests are endangered by Europe, the interests of EU member states, their supporters, their companies, will be threatened no matter where they are located."
Ultraconservatives had also vandalized the British and French embassy buildings in Tehran during the past weeks. Nabavian further advised Europeans to "to take Iran's threats seriously."
Referring to former US President Donald Trump administration's designation of the IRGC as a terrorist group, Nabavian said it is not standard practice in the world to sanction the defensive forces of a country.
Meanwhile, IRGC General and hardliner lawmaker Esmail Kowsari warned EU member states: "You may not be able to tolerate the consequences of designating IRGC as a terrorist organization." Kowsari claimed that "The plan put the IRGC on Europe's list of terrorist organizations is a US-Israeli conspiracy and there is no logic behind it."
He suggested that "EU member states should preserve their independence from the United States and should oppose any action against the IRGC."Kowsari added that "Those who want Iran to return to the JCPOA know very well that these actions can put an end to any dialogue." He further warned that if the Eu wishes to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization, it should consider the heavy repercussions of such an act."
This threat has some believers in the West, including the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell who is said to oppose designation the IRGC for fear of jeopardizing the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, or JCPOA.
Kowsari further warned that "The ITRGC is one of the world's most powerful military organizations. Designating it as a terrorist group will not restrict its actions but it might change the situation."
Meanwhile, in another development, Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor of hardliner Kayhan daily in Iran threatened Sweden that IRGC security forces can easily abduct Swedish security officials and bring them to Iran for trial.
He made the outlandish statement while speaking about the trial of a former Iranian judiciary official convicted in Sweden on the charges of participating in killing thousands of dissidents in Iranian prisons in 1988.
In an interview with Eghtesad News, Shariatmadari mentioned other cases in which Iranian security forces abducted individuals from other countries for trial in Iran.