“France Condemns ‘Barbaric’ Iranian Execution,” Reuters, December 12, 2020. “An exiled journalist has been executed in Iran over his online work that helped inspire nationwide economic protests in 2017. Ruhollah Zam was captured a little more than a year ago after authorities tricked him into travelling to Iraq, where he was abducted. The 47-year-old was one of several opposition figures successfully seized by Iranian intelligence operatives abroad in recent months as Tehran struggles under the weight of US sanctions. The execution drew immediate international condemnation. Zam’s execution was “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”, Amnesty International’s Diana Eltahawy warned. Iranian state television referred to Zam as “the leader of the riots” in announcing his execution by hanging early on Saturday. In June, a court sentenced Zam to death, saying he had been convicted of “corruption on earth”, a charge often used in cases involving espionage or attempts to overthrow Iran’s government. Zam’s website AmadNews and a channel he created on the popular messaging app Telegram had spread the timings of the 2017 protests and embarrassing information about officials that directly challenged Iran’s Shi’ite theocracy. Zam’s father, the reformist Shi’ite cleric Mohammad Ali Zam, seemed to confirm his son was abducted in Iraq in comments on Instagram on Saturday. “I made a deal with God, I have no worries, these people brought me to Karbala, but did not allow me to visit the shrine,” the Instagram post quotes the younger Zam as saying. Karbala is home to the shrine of Imam Hussein, an important pilgrimage point for Shi’ites. The cleric said he only was allowed to visit Tehran’s Evin prison on Friday to see his son after agreeing with authorities not to tell him his execution loomed. Reporters Without Borders said Zam’s hanging was a “new crime of Iranian justice”. Sherif Mansour of the Committee to Protect Journalists said Zam’s execution had seen Iranian authorities “join the company of criminal gangs and violent extremists who silence journalists by murdering them”. “This is a monstrous and shameful act, and one which the international community must not let pass unnoticed,” Mansour said. The European Union called on Iran to stop its executions and “cease the practice of using televised confessions to establish and promote their guilt”. Zam has been the subject of several state TV programs in which he gave apparently coerced confessions.”
“Iran’s execution of journalist Ruhollah Zam, briefly explained,” Cameron Peters, Vox, December 12, 2020.
“Iran’s Int’l Quran Competition Slated for March 2021,” International Quran New Agency, December 12, 2020.
“Iran’s options to hit Israel for nuke chief’s killing reach far beyond Hezbollah,” Avi Issacharoff, Times of Israel, December 12, 2020.
“Two Decades Later, Still No Justice For Iran’s ‘Chain Murders’ Of Intellectuals,” Golnaz Esfandiari and Fereshteh Ghazi, RFE/RL, December 12, 2020.
“Iran Starts Mass Producing Gate Valves in Defiance of Sanctions,” IFP Editorial Staff -December 12, 2020.
“Intelligence experts say Iranian regime hackers targeted dissidents during online rally,” Ray Hanania, Arab News, December 12, 2020.
“India, Iran, To Hold Trilateral Meeting On Chabahar Port On Dec 14,” Business World, December 12, 2020.
“Iran’s Supreme Leader: Who might succeed Ali Khamenei?,” Rana Rahimpour, BBC, December 12, 2020.
Not a very good translation, or they made a mistake. Tasnim admits the hanging of Zam for spreading “incriminating content against Iran’s Islamic establishment and insulting the sanctities of Iranian Muslims and publishing fake news in order to drive a wedge between the Iranian people and government.” That ought to send shivers down the spine of every Iranian citizen who speaks out, and a lot do. See “Admin of Anti-Iran Website Ruhollah Zam Executed,” Tasnim News Agency, December, 12, 2020.