Monitoring desk
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: The United States has said that it was appalled by Iran’s execution of British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari.
Addressing a press conference, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Tehran’s abuses during its crackdown on widespread demonstrations should not go unpunished.
Blinken said that the US was appalled by the execution of Akbari as “we have been seeing on the streets of Tehran over the previous months since these protests began. Mass arrests, the executions, the use of sexual violence the tool for protests’ suppression,”.
Appalled by Execution of British-Iranian
Blinken said that “these abuses could not go without consequence. Together with many other nations, we’ve been moving forward with various extremist actions, multilateral measures, and using United Nations (UN) mechanisms to try to hold Iran to account”.
Akbari, a British-Iranian national who once served as Tehran’s deputy defense minister, was executed on charges of spying for Britain.
London has said that the charges against Akbari were politically motivated. It repeatedly called for his release. Following the execution, the UK imposed sanctions on Iran’s Prosecutor General.
The execution of the Irani-British national drew widespread condemnation, further worsening Iran’s long-strained ties with the West and other countries.
Addressing the same news conference, James Cleverly, British foreign minister, said that the United Kingdom would not limit itself to the response it had already announced, although he declined to detail what more it might do.
