Iran: Abductions and Executions

The Islamic Republic of Iran carried out the death sentence of Ruhollah Zam, the founder and editor of AmadNews Telegram Channel, on the morning of Saturday, December 12, 2020. The intelligence service affiliated with the Islamic “Revolutionary” Guards lured Ruhollah Zam into Iraq last year and, with the cooperation of the Iraqi government, abducated him and forcibly returned to Iran.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has resumed the assassination of its opponents abroad for some time, and by planning and setting a trap, it has been able to lure a number of its opponents to Turkey and Iraq, and with the help of the governments of these two countries, kidnap them and take them to Iran. Among them are Bayb Farjullah Chaab, nicknamed Habib Asio, one of the leaders of the Ahwaz National Resistance, Ruhollah Zam, the founder and host of the Amadnews Telegram channel, and Jamshid Sharmahd, the director of the Royal Society. In addition to the above kidnappings, Arsalan Rezaei has also recently been assassinated by the intelligence service of the Islamic Republic of Iran in abroad. Arsalan Rezaei, the administrator of the Instagram page and the Telegram channel (Khorafatkadeh), was assassinated on Friday, December 11, 2020, at his residence in Turkey.

In accordance with International Law and the judgment of Iran International People’s Tribunal, considers Iran Watch, the abduction, torture, execution and killing of dissidents and protesters in Iran, as an example of crimes against humanity and will registered them in the criminal record of the Islamic Republic.

On 8 December, the spokesman for  Islamic Republic judiciary announced that the Supreme Court had upheld Rouhollah Zam’s death sentence. IRI rushed to execute Rouhollah Zam four days later, in what we believe was a reprehensible bid to avoid an international campaign to save his life.  

Background

Rouhollah Zam was sentenced to death by Branch 15 of the Islamic “Revolutionary” Court in Tehran in June 2020 following a grossly unfair trial for “spreading corruption on earth” in connection with his news channel, AmadNews, that he ran on the messaging app Telegram. The channel, which had more than a million followers, shared videos of protests and information about the involvement of various authority figures in corruption. The IRI accused him of using his media work for “espionage” for France and Israel, “cooperation with the hostile state of the United States”, “crimes against national security” and “spreading propaganda against the system.”

Iran Watch opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to kill the prisoner. The death penalty is a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.