LONDON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday called on the international community to hold the Iranian regime accountable over the execution of journalist Ruhollah Zam.
“The international community must continue to hold the regime accountable for its unconscionable actions,” he said in a tweet.
Zam, an Iranian dissident based in Paris, was executed on Saturday after he was lured to Iraq, captured and taken to Iran. He was convicted of inciting violence during anti-government protests in 2017.
The international community must continue to hold the regime accountable for its unconscionable actions. We applaud steps by European governments in this regard. The Iranian people deserve a free and diverse media, not censorship, arrests, and the execution of journalists. https://t.co/vfcqf1XoHf
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) December 15, 2020
Pompeo said he applauded steps taken by European governments in condemning and denouncing the execution.
On Monday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said Zam’s “death sentence and execution by hanging are emblematic of a pattern of forced confessions extracted under torture and and broadcast on state media being used as a basis to convict people.”
She also condemned the use of the death penalty in general and called on the Iranian regime to “free all those detained for exercising their human rights.”
#Iran: UN Human Rights Chief @mbachelet is appalled at the execution of #RuhollahZam. She calls on the authorities to halt their alarming & increasing use of the #DeathPenalty and vague national security charges to suppress independent voices & dissent https://t.co/hvNjgeyOaH pic.twitter.com/RlN2cGffom
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) December 14, 2020
Envoys from France, Germany, Italy and Austria announced Sunday they would cancel their participation at an online business forum scheduled to be hosted by Tehran on Monday.
“Following the barbaric and unacceptable execution of journalist Ruhollah Zam, our Ambassador to Iran, like those of Germany, Austria and Italy, has canceled his participation in the
Europe Iran Business Forum,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement.
Pompeo added: “The Iranian people deserve a free and diverse media, not censorship, arrests, and the execution of journalists.”
