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Iran Executes Journalist Accused of Helping Fuel 2017 Protests

Iran Executes Journalist Accused of Helping Fuel 2017 Protests

Iran has executed a journalist accused of promoting anti-government protests that spread across the country in late 2017, state television reported.

Rouhollah Zam was put to death early Saturday after a judicial court upheld his sentence and denied his appeal, according to the report. The TV channel described him as the head of anti-revolutionary networks and he was convicted of “corruption on earth,” an offense that carried the death penalty.

Zam was arrested in October 2019 after returning to Iran. He was running a popular Persian-language news channel on the messaging platform Telegram from his home in France when the protests broke out. He made a number of appearances on dissident Iranian satellite channels in which he was critical of the Islamic Republic.

The demonstrations that erupted in December 2017 were sparked by discontent over rising living costs, then broadened into rallies against the religious and security establishment.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.