Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Iran executed Amad News journalist Rouhollah Zam by hanging Saturday sparking international outcry.
Authorities targeted Zam in connection with his opposition news channel Amad News, which they linked to January 2018 protests against the establishment, according to Amnesty International. They also publicly accused Zam in court documents of "espionage" for Israel and France, "cooperation with the hostile state of the United States," "crimes against national security," and "spreading propaganda against the system."
"We are shocked and horrified to learn that the Iranian authorities executed dissident journalist Rouhollah Zam at dawn today," Amnesty International said in a statement.
Zam was sentenced to death in June on the charge of "corruption on earth, " a charge that doesn't specify the crime, but the Iranian government has used for alleged attempts to overthrow it.
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The Supreme Court upheld Zam's death sentence Tuesday.
"The authorities rushed to execute Rouhollah Zam a mere four days later, in what we believe was a reprehensible bid to avoid an international campaign to save his life," Amnesty International's statement said, adding that the hanging was "strictly prohibited under international law."
Reporters Without Borders, an international press freedom organization, called the trial was "grossly unfair."
The group said Zam was "illegally kidnapped and arrested" in October 2019 during a visit to Iraq by Iraq Revolutionary Guards and forcibly returned to Iran after living in exile in France.
Zam was held without any contact with his family or lawyers for nine months, according to a letter his father wrote to the Iranian head of the judiciary.
In July, Iran's state TV aired a propaganda program appearing to show Zam confessing to his crimes.
Iran has been one of the most oppressive countries for journalists for the past 40 years, according to Reporters Without Borders. At least 860 journalists and citizen-journalists have been imprisoned and executed since 1979.
