Tehran: Iran continues its abhorrent policy towards the Iranian people, as the Iranian authorities refused to hand over the body of an executed British-Iranian citizen Alireza Akbari to his family for burial in the city of Shiraz, his hometown, local media reported.
On Saturday, January 14, Alireza Akbari, was executed, three years after his arrest, after being found guilty of spying for MI6.
Alireza Akbari’s family, on Monday, told the British Guardian newspaper, “The authorities in the Islamic Republic prevented them from seeing Akbari’s body,” adding that “the authorities also prevented the burial of Ali Reza Akbari’s body in a cemetery in Shiraz, according to the will of the late.”
In the recent confrontation of the security institutions of the Islamic Republic with the family of Alireza Akbari, his sister and daughter were asked to go to Tehran to take the body and bury it in the cemetery determined by officials in Iran.
As per media reports, Akbari’s family was told that any attempt to transfer the body to Shiraz, southern Iran, would lead to its confiscation.
But when Akbari’s sister and daughter, who reside in Tehran, went to collect the body on Monday, the authorities informed them that a man with the same name and details had already been buried on Thursday and that there was no body to collect.
This was confirmed by Andy Slaughter, the MP for Hammersmith and the constituency MP for the Akbari family.
Andrew Slaughter indicated that after the execution of Alireza Akbari, at least he should have been treated with respect and dignity.
Britain responded to the execution of its citizen in Iran by temporarily recalling its ambassador from Tehran and imposing sanctions on Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, Iran’s attorney general.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called Alireza Akbari’s execution a “cowardly” act by a “barbaric regime,” while British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in the House of Commons that Akbari was returned to Iran three years ago through deception.
Akbari’s execution comes as Iran has been rocked by protests sparked by the September 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, after she was arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.
