Iran Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentence for Opposition Figure
Iran's judiciary on Tuesday said it had upheld a death sentence for Ruhollah Zam, a former opposition figure who had lived in exile in France and was implicated in anti-government protests.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the arrest of Zam in October last year, calling him a "counter-revolutionary" who was "directed by France's intelligence service".
He was charged with "corruption on earth" -- one of the most serious offences under Iranian law -- and sentenced to death in June.
"The supreme court handled the case more than a month ago," Iran's judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili told reporters Tuesday.
It "upheld the ruling issued by the Revolutionary Court," he added, speaking at a videoconference.
Zam, who reportedly lived in Paris, ran a channel on the Telegram messaging application Amadnews.
At the time, he was accused by authorities of playing an active role in anti-government protests sparked by economic hardship between December 28, 2017 and January 3, 2018.
At least 25 people were killed during the unrest.
Telegram shut down Amadnews after Iran demanded it remove the account for inciting an "armed uprising".
According to Zam's indictment published in February, he was accused of having "committed offences against the country's internal and external security" and "espionage for the French intelligence service", alongside "corruption on earth".
He was also accused of having insulted the "sanctity of Islam".
Sad what is happening to a glorious nation with a glorious civilization. History will remember these Basij as a dark point in Iran history. Same misery and political oppressive mafia as in Lebanon, but hidden from view. No wonder the worst critics are Iranians living abroad calling this Junta/ayatollah as the great Satan. One day soon the Green revolution will succeed and get rid of this cancer. Then an honest supreme court will judge all current Iranian leaders
responsible for destroying a nation and a glorious culture; and creating the worst economic, social, cultural and intellectual failure of the 20th and 21st Century despite Iran massive natural and human resources.