The execution of Alireza Akbari may be a sign of the Iranian regime’s weakness

Editorial: The more that Iranians know there is support for their freedom around the world, the weaker the regime’s hold on their hearts will be

Tehran claimed the British-Iranian national was a spy (AP)

Any hope that the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori in March last year might mean a thaw in relations between Britain and the Iranian government, or progress in the Khamenei regime’s attitude to human rights, has been finally dashed by the execution of Alireza Akbari, a British-Iranian national.

Not that there should have been any doubt. The regime’s response to the protests by Iranian women last year, and in particular to the agitation unleashed by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in September, has made clear that there will be no voluntary loosening of the authoritarian grip. While the release of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Mr Ashoori suggested that Iran’s rulers might be open to pragmatic engagement with liberal democracies, the killing of Mr Akbari shows the regime in its true colours.

The execution of Mr Akbari – a former deputy defence minister in the Iranian government accused of spying for the UK – seems to be designed to reinforce the regime’s propaganda that the protests that have shaken Iran are being stoked by foreign forces.