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Agence France-Presse

Iran authorities on Saturday executed Ruhollah Zam, a former opposition figure who had lived in exile in France and was implicated in anti-government protests, days after his sentence was upheld.
State television said the “counter-revolutionary” Zam was hanged in the morning after the supreme court upheld his sentence due to “the severity of the crimes” committed against the Islamic republic.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili had on December 8 said Zam’s sentence was upheld by the supreme court “more than a month ago”.

London-based human rights group Amnesty International, in a statement after his verdict was confirmed, described Zam as a “journalist and dissident”.
It said the confirmation marked “a shocking escalation in the use of the death penalty as a weapon of repression”.
In a statement from the EU’s External Action Service, it said: “The European Union condemns this act in the strongest terms and recalls once again its irrevocable opposition to the use of capital punishment under any circumstances.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced the arrest of Zam in October 2019, claiming he had been “directed by France’s intelligence service”.
State television said he was “under the protection of several countries’ intelligence services”.
The official IRNA news agency said he was also convicted of espionage for France and an unnamed country in the region, cooperating with the “hostile government of America”, acting against “the country’s security”, insulting the “sanctity of Islam” and instigating violence during protests in 2017.
At least 25 people were killed during the unrest in December 2017 and January 2018 that was sparked by economic hardship.
Zam, who was granted political asylum in France and reportedly lived in Paris, ran a channel on the Telegram messaging app called Amadnews.
Telegram shut down the channel after Iran demanded it remove the account for inciting an “armed uprising”.

Zam was charged with “corruption on earth” – one of the most serious offences under Iranian law – and sentenced to death in June.
As his trial started, state television broadcast a “documentary” about Zam’s “relations” with the Islamic republic’s foes.
The broadcaster also aired an “interview” with him in July, in which he is seen saying he believed in reformism until he was detained in 2009 during protests against the disputed re-election of ultraconservative president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.
He also denied having instigated violence through his Telegram channel.
New rule could allow gas and firing squads for US executions
Amnesty has repeatedly called on Iran to stop broadcasting videos of “confessions” by suspects, saying they “violate the defendants’ rights”.
On Saturday, the rights group called his execution a “deadly blow” to freedom of expression.
Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty’s deputy director for the Middle East, said she was “shocked and horrified” at his death, adding that the organisation believed it was “a reprehensible bid to avoid an international campaign to save his life”.
Zam had lived in exile in France for several years before being arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards under unclear circumstances.
Paris-based press rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Saturday it was “outraged” by the execution.

RSF had previously claimed that Zam had disappeared on a trip to Baghdad in October 2019, and accused Iran of abducting him in Iraq to face trial back home.
Zam is one of several people to have been sentenced to death over participation or links to protests that rocked Iran between 2017 and 2019.
Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old wrestler, was executed at a prison in the southern city of Shiraz in September.
The judiciary said he had been found guilty of “voluntary homicide” for stabbing to death a government employee in August 2018.

Shiraz and other urban centres had been the scene of anti-government protests at the time.
Three young men were also sentenced to death over links to deadly 2019 protests, but Iran’s supreme court said last week that it would retry them at the request of their defence teams.
Their sentences were initially upheld, with the judiciary saying evidence had been found on their phones of them setting alight banks, buses and public buildings.
Amnesty International said Iran executed at least 251 people last year, the world’s second highest total after China.


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Iran

Iran executes former opposition figure and journalist Ruhollah Zam

Journalist Ruhollah Zam was executed by Iranian authorities on Saturday. Photo: Mizan News Agency / WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Navid Afkari

Ruhollah Zam, a dissident journalist who was captured in what Tehran calls an intelligence operation, is seen during his trial in Tehran, Iran June 2, 2020. Picture taken June 2, 2020. Mizan News Agency/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.

FILE - In this Sept. 23, 2010 file photo, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, holds up a copies of the Quran, left, and Bible, right, as he addresses the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters. Ahmadinejad prompted disgusted walkouts from the assembly in 2010 when he questioned whether the Sept. 11 attacks were staged. He suggested an inside job, arguing that only an explosion, not planes could have brought down the twin towers. His visits to New York caused fury among locals, but delighted the hardline wing in Iran. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Iran has arrested some suspects in killing of top nuclear scientist arrested Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, says official

Prominent Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh is seen in Iran, in this undated photo taken before his death. Photo: Handout from Official Khamenei Website/West Asia News Agency via Reuters

Members of the Iranian military forces carry the coffin of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh during a funeral ceremony in Tehran in November. Photo: West Asia News Agency via Reuters

Iran says nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh killed by remote-controlled machine gun

Iranian soldiers carry the coffin of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh during his funeral procession at the country’s Ministry of Defence on Monday. Photo: DPA

HANDOUT - 30 November 2020, Iran, Tehran: Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami delivers a speech during the funeral of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh at the Iranian Ministry of Defence. Fakhrizadeh was shot on Friday in a suburb of Tehran and died shortly afterwards in hospital. He had been a member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and was an expert in missile production. Israel, accused by Tehran of being behind the attack, has denied responsibility. Photo: -/Iranian Defence Ministry Office via ZUMA Wire/dpa - ATTENTION: editorial use only and only if the credit mentioned above is referenced in full

HANDOUT - 30 November 2020, Iran, Tehran: A general view of the coffin of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh during his funeral procession at the Iranian Ministry of Defence. Fakhrizadeh was shot on Friday in a suburb of Tehran and died shortly afterwards in hospital. He had been a member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and was an expert in missile production. Israel, accused by Tehran of being behind the attack, has denied responsibility. Photo: -/Iranian Defence Ministry Office via ZUMA Wire/dpa - ATTENTION: editorial use only and only if the credit mentioned above is referenced in full

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Amnesty International, in a statement after his verdict was confirmed, described Zam as a ‘journalist and dissident’
Zam was charged with ‘corruption on earth’ – one of the most serious offences under Iranian law – and sentenced to death in June



State television said the ‘counter-revolutionary’ Zam was hanged on Saturday morning, days after his sentence was upheld.


US-Iran tensions

Diplomacy