Iran has executed Ruhollah Zam, a journalist who ran the anti-government website Amad News, which the Islamic Republic said he used to incite the country’s 2017-18 protests.

^{(Credit: MojNews, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Intnl).}

Zam (pictured), 47, was hanged on December 12 after the supreme court upheld a death sentence against him, Iranian state television reported. The son of a previously high-ranking pro-reform Shia cleric, Zam, who was living in exile in Paris after being granted political asylum, was according to BBC Persian, detained after being lured to Iraq last year to meet the grand Ayatollah Sistani in the hope of securing his support. BBC Persian wrote: “Upon his arrest, the intelligence wing of Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) posted news of its success on Amad News—the very platform on Telegram which Zam used to subvert the regime, incite disobedience and criticise opponents whom he viewed as being too soft.”

Zam became a household name in Iran, using his network—which had more than a million followers on Telegram, an encrypted messaging app—to share videos of protests and damaging information about Iranian officials. It was removed by Telegram for breaching the company's rules on posting dangerous content, but later reopened under a different name.

The IRGC claimed that Zam was "under the guidance" and protection of intelligence services in France, Israel and the US. Zam fled Iran in the wake of anti-government protests in 2009, saying he had been falsely accused of working with foreign intelligence services. 

Zam was convicted of “corruption on Earth”, to which he pleaded not guilty.

France condemned the court ruling as a “serious attack on freedom of expression and freedom of the press in Iran” and said the execution was a “barbaric and unacceptable act”. It called on Iran to respect its international human rights obligations.

Row knocks out business forum

On December 13, France announced that its ambassador to Tehran would not participate in an online Europe-Iran business forum in the Iranian capital this week as the row between Iran and European nations over the execution of Zam grew. Other envoys, including those from Germany, Austria and Italy were also cancelling their involvement in the December 14 event, the French foreign ministry said on Twitter, using the hashtag #nobusinessasusual.

The organisers of the forum later said they were postponing it.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the envoys from France and Germany, the current holder of the European Union’s rotating presidency, to protest over French and EU criticism of the execution on December 12, Iranian media reported.

“The authorities rushed to execute Ruhollah Zam in what we believe was a reprehensible bid to avoid an international campaign to save his life,” said Diana Eltahawy, Middle East deputy director for the Amnesty International rights group. “His execution is a deadly blow to freedom of expression in Iran and shows the extent of the Iranian authorities’ brutal tactics to instil fear and deter dissent.”

The execution was also condemned by the press freedom groups Reporters without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists.