British-Iranian man set to be executed was 'tortured for 3,500 hours' to force confession
Alireza Akbari said his taped claim of being an MI6 agent had only been obtained after rounds of brutal torture by Tehran regime
A British-Iranian citizen facing imminent execution by the Tehran regime has said he was tortured for 3,500 hours to force him into making a confession.
In a recording obtained by BBC Persian, Alireza Akbari, a former Iranian deputy defence minister, said his claim of being an MI6 agent in a recent taped confession had only been obtained after rounds of brutal torture.
The dubious confession was broadcast in full on Iranian state media platforms on Thursday as the regime sought to depict Mr Akbari as a "super spy" ahead of his execution.
"I was interrogated and tortured for over 3,500 hours in 10 months. All of that was recorded on camera ... By using the force of a gun and making death threats they made me confess to false and baseless claims," Mr Akbari said in the recording obtained by BBC Persian.
It came as Mr Akbari's nephew dismissed claims he was a spy, calling on the Government to save him and blaming his arrest on "political games" in Iran.
'Devoted family man'
“He is a devoted family man. Every memory that I have of him, he had a kind character. Always a smiling person and an open person,” Ramin Forghani, 33, told The Telegraph, describing the arrest as "a huge shock."
"I couldn't believe that it was him,” he said, “I want the sentence cancelled and for him to be released.”
Mr Akbari, who gained British citizenship through naturalisation, has a wife and two daughters, aged 38 and 22.
Mr Forghani, whose mother is Mr Akbari’s sister, fled Iran because of his opposition to the regime and now lives in Luxembourg, where he is studying for a PhD in political sciences.
He said: “To be honest, I haven't had the courage to contact my parents. First of all, I am scared of hearing something has happened to them but also I'm scared of the lines being monitored.”
Mr Forghani was dismissive of Tehran’s claims that his uncle was a spy working for Britain.
“He was involved in the Iran-Iraq War, and was one of the negotiators with the UN on Iran,” he said. "He was not the kind that would wish to either jeopardise the country or the regime. He was very well devoted to both the country and the regime and was part of the regime at the highest levels.”
Earlier on Thursday, Iranian state media outlets released a nine-minute video of Mr Akbari's confession, which Iran has used to claim that he had a hand in the assassination of its chief nuclear scientist.
"They [the British] wanted embargos and threats against the Islamic Republic to harden and in particular wanted to concentrate on the nuclear deal negotiations," Mr Akbari said to the camera in the confession tape.
"For example, [they] wanted to know if someone like Dr Fakhrizadeh heads such a project, I would say yes why not. Or ask me to identify key figures," he added. "In relation to events and news, they would ask me questions."
He was apparently referring to Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the former chief scientist of Iran's nuclear programme who was allegedly assassinated by Israel's Mossad agency in November 2020. Iran has repeatedly sought to present his death as being part of a joint conspiracy against the regime by the West and Israel.
Separately, the former Iranian minister and analyst has been accused of obtaining secrets about a top official by giving perfume to his secretary. Mr Akbari has strongly denied all the charges.
Iran frequently arrests dual citizens, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and jails them over dubious spying charges. It has also faced repeated accusations of obtaining false confessions under duress or via torture.
In the same video confession, Mr Akbari appears to claim that MI6 handlers made sure he stayed in hotels when travelling abroad with toilets that did not face Mecca.
"In order to recruit you, they know everything about you," he said. "For example, they would make sure the hotel room did not have a toilet facing Mecca. Or they will leave extra clean bedding sheets so that I can use them as prayer mats.
The British Government has called for Mr Akbari's release, calling his arrest a "politically motivated act" by a "barbaric regime that has total disregard for human life."