Ruhollah Zam’s father, Mohammad Ali Zam, a cleric himself, posted about Ruhollah on his Instagram and explained the tricks Islamic Republic Judiciary played on him leading up to his execution. Ruhollah Zam, director of Amad News Telegram channel which was dedicated to opposition revealing brutal actions and corruption of Islamic Republic officials, was executed today, December 12, 2020.
According to Mohammad Ali Zam, the agent in charge of Ruhollah’s case at IRGC intelligence, called him on Friday, December 11, “You can come to visit Ruhollah if you want.” After 2 hours of waiting, they let Zam’s family to the visitation room of Evin prison. The person in charge emphasized to the family not to tell him anything about confirmation of his execution sentence by the “Supreme Court.”
Mohammad Ali Zam continues, “During the visit, the family started to cry. The agent who was afraid Ruhollah might find out why, told him, “Don’t worry Ruhollah. These are happy tears from visiting you. Even if the execution is confirmed, the process would take a while to be carried out and we will inform you of the whole process.” Ruhollah said, “Did you tell me about the original sentence?!” I tried to make it easier and told him to assume his sentence was confirmed and there’s a chance for retrial considering the lies you were told during your interrogations.”
He asked his father if there was any documentary aired on TV in the past few days. That’s the usual method of Islamic Republic! After confirmation of death sentence on a high profile case, they would run a “documentary” of forced confessions on TV to ease the public in and excuse the killing of another person at their will! Ruhollah had found out at the moment his father said, “Yes, there was a film on channels 2 and 3! Showing you by a whiteboard writing names.” Ruhollah answered with a surprise “Really?!”
According to the Sharia law and Islamic Penal Code, the family of the accused and himself must be informed of his execution! They should have the time to appeal. But in Zam’s case, GholamHossein Esmaeili told reporters last Tuesday, “His execution was confirmed by the Supreme Court more than a month ago. He was also sentenced to some years in prison!” His sentence was not publicized until then. Mohammad Ali Zam says Ruhollah was tricked and forced into confession against himself.
The agents told Ruhollah, Ebrahim Raisi, Judiciary Chief, has confirmed his swap with a foreign prisoner. They refused to tell him about his execution so he would continue playing in their charade!
Ruhollah Zam was a journalist based in France. He was lured to Iraq in October 2019 and kidnapped by IRGC intelligence. He was tortured for months, paraded in front of TV cameras and executed on December 12, 2020.
