Iran’s former deputy defense minister Alireza Akbari has been sentenced to death after being found guilty of espionage.

Akbari who held the senior government post until 2001, under the presidency of Mohammad Khatami, was convicted of spying for Britain’s MI6.

It’s understood that Iran’s intelligence service unmasked the spying by feeding Akbari false information. He apparently spied on past nuclear talks between Iran and Western powers.

Iran’s Intelligence Ministry says Akbari was recruited during a visit to Europe.

Over the past few years Iran’s intelligence forces have unmasked and arrested a number of foreign-linked spies that it says have been involved in acts of sabotage against the people of Iran and its facilities. Only this month spies linked to the Israeli occupation regime’s Mossad were detained.