'Iranians threaten to destroy body of executed dual national Alireza Akbari'
Tehran authorities have threatened to “destroy” the body of executed British-Iranian dual national Alireza Akbari, MPs were told tonight.
The ex-deputy Iranian defence minister was arrested in 2019 and convicted of spying for the UK, which he denied.
The hardline regime announced his execution over the weekend.
But Mr Akbari’s British MP, Labour’s Andy Slaughter, believed he may have been killed earlier.
“The regime refuses to release Mr Akbari’s body or to allow burial in the place chosen by him, and have made threats to destroy his body unless the family cooperates with their instructions,” he told the Commons.
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“The cemetery where they were told he should be buried informed the family that burial already took place last week - casting doubt on the time of his execution.”
Labour MP for Hammersmith, Andy SlaughterMr Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith, West London, urged the Government to “do what it can to ensure that in death, if not in life, Mr Akbari is treated with dignity and respect”.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the revelations would bring “incredible discomfort” and unleash feelings of “revulsion”.
He called on Tehran to “treat Mr Akbari in death with the deference and respect that is legitimate”.
He added: "Let there be no doubt, he fell victim to the political vendettas of a vicious regime.
He denied spying for Britain (Khabar Online/AFP via Getty Imag)"His execution was the cowardly and shameful act of a leadership which thinks nothing of using the death penalty as a political tool to silence dissent and settle internal scores."
Delivering an emergency statement, Mr Cleverly went on: "The House should be in no doubt that we are witnessing the vengeful actions of a weakened and isolated regime obsessed with suppressing its own people, debilitated by its own fear of losing power and wrecking its international reputation.
"Our message to that regime is clear - the world is watching you and you will be held to account, particularly by the brave Iranian people, so many of whom you are oppressing and killing."
Mr Cleverly faced repeated calls to officially designate and formally ban - known as proscribing - Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.
He told MPs: “We should consider what further steps alongside our allies we take to counter the escalating threat from Iran.
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Foreign Secretary James Cleverly updated MPs on the Government's response to the execution (PA)“We do not limit ourselves to the steps that I have already announced."
MPs from all sides demanded the group’s proscription.
Shadow Foreign Office Minister Bambos Charalambous told the Commons: "The Government must now proscribe the IRGC, either through the existing process or through amending the National Security Bill to create a new process of proscription for hostile state actors.
“The playbook of this regime is to use brutality and violence for its own political ends and its own survival."
The Conservative chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Alicia Kearns, joined the calls, warning: “Iran is a terrorist state and they have weaponised human life.”
Tory MP Alicia Kearns chairs the Commons Foreign Affairs Select CommitteeShe added: “The House is clear that we do need to proscribe the IRGC.
“This is a policy decision, not a legal one.”
The Scottish National Party’s foreign affairs spokesman Drew Hendry said the Government should “take forward the formal proscription of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation”.
Mr Cleverly said: “The future proscription or sanctions designation of individuals or entities is not something that we speculate about or discuss at the despatch box.”
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