News that Iranian deputy defence minister Mr Akbari had been executed emerged following a last-minute appeal from the UK Government to Iran on Friday urging it not to go ahead with the killing.
A statement from the Iranian Students’ News Agency released on Saturday morning said: “The sentence of Alireza Akbari, the son of Ali with dual Iranian-British citizenship, who was sentenced to death on charges of corruption in the land and widespread action against the country’s internal and external security through espionage for the intelligence apparatus of the British government, was executed.
He tweeted on Friday: “The Iranian regime should be in no doubt. We are watching the case of Alireza Akbari closely.On Wednesday Mr Akbari’s wife Maryam told the BBC she had been invited to a “final meeting” at the Iranian prison where her husband was being held in solitary confinement. “This will not stand unchallenged and we will be summoning the Iranian Charge d’Affaires to make clear our disgust at Iran’s actions. Our thoughts are with Mr Akbari’s family.”