‘CRIME OF IRANIAN JUSTICE’

Iranian Journalist Executed for Encouraging Protests

The journalist was convicted of “corruption on Earth.”

Iranian journalist Ruhollah Zam was executed Saturday after being sentenced to death for encouraging anti-government protests in 2017. Zam revealed embarrassing information about government officials in Iran and shared details about anti-government protests on his website AmadNews and via the Telegram messaging app. Iranians protested in 2017 first against rising food prices and then more broadly against their leadership. At the time, Zam shared videos criticizing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on his website. The journalist was exiled to Paris after he said he was accused of being a spy, but he returned to Iran in 2019 and was arrested soon after. Zam was convicted of “corruption on Earth.” Reporters Without Borders called the execution a “new crime of Iranian justice.”