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Who is Rouhollah Zam, and why is he facing death sentence in Iran?

Friday, 11 December 2020 12:51 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 11 December 2020 1:14 AM ]

Yusef Jalali

Press TV, Tehran

Death penalty; this was the sentence handed down to this man, Rouhollah Zam, for administering a news website that Iran's Judiciary says disseminates misleading content against the Islamic Republic.

Amad News came to prominence during Iran's nationwide protests in 2017, which were driven by economic grievances. The Iranian government says the news network was inciting armed uprising against the establishment, while spreading damaging information about government officials.

Zam left Iran for France following the 2009 post-election unrests in Iran. The Iranian Judiciary says he was under the instructions and protection of intelligence services of France, Israel and the US.

Zam faced charges of having committed offenses against Iran’s internal and external security, spying for the French intelligence service and desecrating Islamic sanctities. Zam was arrested in October 2019 by the Intelligence Organization of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

The IRGC says Zam was detained after being enticed into the country as part of a complicated intelligence trap. Iran's Supreme Court upheld the death sentence five months after the Islamic Revolution Courthouse issued the verdict for corruption on earth, a term used to describe capital crimes within the Iranian judicial system.

Rouhollah Zam will be executed and there will be no change in the court's final ruling whatsoever. Meanwhile, Amad News is still up and running; something that gives some clues that Zam could be just a pawn in a wider game orchestrated from outside Iran's borders.

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