Iran's Supreme Court has confirmed the death sentence of former Defense Ministry official Alireza Akbari, a dual Iranian-British citizen, on spying charges and transferred him to solitary confinement, raising fears his execution may be imminent.
The Intelligence Ministry said on January 11 Akbari was sentenced for spying, calling him "one of the most important infiltrators" of classified materials in the country. He has denied the allegations.
Akbari's wife confirmed she had been informed of the sentence, and in an interview with BBC's Persian service, said her husband, who has been in prison since 2019, had been taken to solitary confinement and asked her to come to the prison for a "final meeting."
The BBC also said it had obtained an audio message from Akbari saying he had been tortured and forced to confess under duress on video.
A U.K. Foreign Office spokesperson said the British government's "priority" was to secure Akbari's "immediate release" and that it had again requested "urgent consular access."
"Iran must halt the execution of British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari and immediately release him," Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a tweet.
"This is a politically motivated act by a barbaric regime that has total disregard for human life," he added.
The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Organization says the number of executions in Iran exceeded 500 last year.
On January 10, the UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, accused Tehran of "weaponizing" the death penalty to quell dissent amid months of unrest over the death of a young woman while in police custody for an alleged violation of the country's head scarf law.
Four protesters have been executed in Iran since the unrest began in mid-September and several more are currently in prison having been handed death sentences.