Alireza Akbari, a former Iranian official charged for spying for the British intelligence agency, has been executed by hanging on Saturday. 

The Mizan news agency of Iran's Judiciary stated that the former official, whose charges were “corruption on earth” and “extensive activities against the country's internal and external security” through espionage was arrested in 2019 after having received 1,805,000 euros, 265,000 pounds, and $50,000 for his collusion with the UK.

Akbari was the deputy defense minister during the tenure of former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, who served from 1997 to 2005.

“Akbari collected the important information of the country on strategic issues in the field of domestic and foreign policy, regional, defense, missile, nuclear negotiations, and economic issues related to sanctions and delivered it to British intelligence officers in a fully informed and targeted manner," Mizan stated.

“On this basis and after filing an indictment against the accused, the file was referred to court, and hearings were held in the presence of the accused’s lawyer and based on the valid documents in the person’s file, he was sentenced to death for spying for the UK."

The death sentence was upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court after Akbari requested an appeal, which was sent through by British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly after reports of the planned execution emerged. Cleverly posted in a tweet: "Iran must halt the execution of British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari and immediately release him.”

Iran must halt the execution of British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari and immediately release him.

This is a politically motivated act by a barbaric regime that has total disregard for human life.

— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) January 11, 2023

Not the first spy, not the last 

On Wednesday, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry described the former deputy defense minister in a statement as “one of the most infiltrating agents of the spying service of the evil UK in the country’s sensitive and strategic centers,” The statement underlined that he was identified and arrested following a “long and multi-layered process” involving “counter-intelligence” and “deception operation.”

According to the ministry, Akbari transferred information obtained from sensitive centers to the UK's spy service on multiple occasions despite being “completely aware” of his steps.

Tehran clarified that the former senior official was first recruited upon his reception of a visa at the UK embassy in Tehran, where he had talks with British intelligence agents. After this "conversation", during personal trips to Europe, Akbari became a "full member of the UK intelligence service."

Mizan confirmed that Akbari confessed about ties to Britain, adding that he was also interrogated by the UK intelligence agency regarding Iran’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was assassinated in November 2020. 

UK-sent spies go way back to the 1953 coup against the democratically-elected government of Mohammad Mosaddeq, and Akbari is not the first spy that Iran has caught and arrested.

It was recently also found that the UK government also played an active role in instigating and fueling the riots in Iran.