Ruhollah Zam: Iran executes journalist accused of fanning unrest

2020-12-12 16:03:48

Iran has executed a journalist who was accused of using a messaging app to stir up dissent. Ruhollah Zam was hanged on Saturday after the supreme court upheld the death sentence against him, state television reported. Zam, who had been living in exile in France, was reportedly detained after travelling to Iraq last year. He ran Amad News, a popular anti-government website Iran accused of inciting the 2017-18 protests. The network, which had more than a million followers on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, shared videos of protests and damaging information about Iranian officials. It was shut down by the Iranian government, but later reopened under a different name. Zam, the son of reformist cleric Mohammad Ali Zam, was convicted of "corruption on earth" - one of the country's most serious offences - earlier this year. However, human rights organisation Amnesty International said he had been the victim of "an unfair trial that relied on forced confessions".