The EU has condemned the execution by Iran of journalist Rouhollah Zam, days before the bloc’s foreign policy chief is due to speak at an event with the Iranian foreign minister.
Zam, 47, who was convicted of stirring up dissent during anti-government protests in 2017, was hanged earlier Saturday after Iran’s supreme court upheld a death sentence against him. In June, he was found guilty of “corruption on earth.”
Zam, the son of reformist cleric Mohammad Ali Zam, ran a website, AmadNews, and had a channel on the messaging app Telegram that Tehran said helped incite the protests.
The journalist had been living in exile in France and was reportedly kidnapped after travelling to Iraq last year.
“The European Union condemns this act in the strongest terms and recalls once again its irrevocable opposition to the use of capital punishment under any circumstances,” said an EU spokesperson in a statement. “It is also imperative for the Iranian authorities to uphold the due process rights of accused individuals and to cease the practice of using televised confessions to establish and promote their guilt.”
Earlier, France condemned the execution. A government spokesperson said in a statement that for Paris the execution was “a barbaric and unacceptable act” that ran “contrary to [Iran]’s international commitments.”
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders tweeted that “it was outraged at this new crime of Iranian justice.” A group of 14 MEPs had urged the regime to stop the execution.
On Monday, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, is due to give a “joint keynote” address at the Europe Iran Business Forum along with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and several ambassadors to Iran from European countries.
But since Borrell “has sent a pre-recorded message for the Business Forum, he will therefore not have a chance to interact with participants,” said an EU official. who stressed that “the EU systematically brings up human rights issues.”
Human rights “were touched upon” during the last EU–Iran High Level Dialogue, whch took place a few days ago, “and also raised in the margins and we intend to hold a human rights dialogue as soon as the situation will allow physical meetings,” said the official.
The killing of the journalist has caused outrage among human right activists: “Today, the barbaric Iran regime has executed this innocent man! And where is @UN, #EU & all those who champion JCPOA deal? SILENCE!’ tweeted human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky, referring to the Iran nuclear deal, known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, signed in 2015 by the five members of the U.N Security Council (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States) plus Germany and the EU.
