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Iran’s Supreme Court upheld a death sentence against a dissident journalist who was captured in 2019 after years of exile in France, the judiciary said on Tuesday.
Ruhollah Zam, whose Amadnews social media feed had more than a million followers, was convicted of fomenting violence during anti-government protests in 2017. The decision was condemned by France and human rights groups.
Zam fled Iran and was given asylum in France.
Zam’s Amadnews source was suspended by messaging service Telegram in 2018 for allegedly inciting violence, but had reappeared under another name.
In October 2019, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had caught Zam in a “complex operation using intelligence deception.”
Nour News, a news agency close to the Revolutionary Guard, said on Tuesday: “After traveling to Iraq in September 2019, he (Zam) was arrested by agents … of the Revolutionary Guard intelligence service and taken to Iran”.
“The death sentence against journalist Mr. Rouhollah Zam is a serious attack on freedom of expression and freedom of the press in Iran. France strongly condemns it and calls on Iran to respect its international human rights obligations, ”the ministry said in a statement.
Amnesty International said in a tweet: “The fact that Iran’s Supreme Court upholds the death sentence of #RouhollahZam, a journalist and dissident, is a shocking escalation in Iran’s use of the death penalty as a weapon of repression. ”.
Iranian officials have accused the United States’ arch enemy, as well as Tehran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia, and government opponents living in exile of fomenting the unrest, which began in late 2017 as regional protests over economic hardships. and they spread throughout the country.
Authorities said 21 people were killed during the riots and thousands were arrested. The unrest was one of the worst Iran has seen in decades, and was followed by even more deadly protests last year against rising fuel prices.
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