Iran summons EU envoys for protesting reporter's hanging

Iran on Sunday summoned German envoy to Tehran after European Union condemned execution of an Iranian journalist whose work helped inspire nationwide ecomic protests in 2017, Iranian state media has reported.

IRNA said that an Iranian foreign ministry official summoned German ambassor because of EU statements on exiled reporter Ruhollah Zam, 47, who was hanged on Saturday.

Zam was being held in jail in Iran after Iranian authorities seized him while he was traveling in neighboring Iraq last year.

German Foreign Ministry on Saturday expressed its shock about circumstances of Zam’s sentencing and what it described as his “abduction from abro" and forced return to Iran.

Iran will also summon today French ambassor to Tehran over European reactions to journalist's execution, IRNA ded.

“This is a barbarous and unacceptable act,” French Foreign Ministry said in a statement, which also condemned hanging as a “grave blow” to freedom of speech in Iran.

Zam h been living in exile in France, before his kidnapping and conviction in Iran.

Iranian state television referred to Zam as “ leer of riots” in anuncing his execution by hanging early Saturday. In June, a court sentenced Zam to death, saying he h been convicted of “corruption on Earth,” a charge often used in cases involving espion or attempts to overthrow Iran’s government.

Zam’s website AmNews and a channel he created on popular messaging app Telegram h spre timings of 2017 protests and embarrassing information about officials that directly challenged Iran’s Shiite ocracy.

Those demonstrations, which began at end of December 2017 and continued into 2018, represented biggest challenge to Iran’s rulers since 2009 Green Movement protests and set st for similar mass unrest in vember of last year.

initial spark for 2017 protests was a sudden jump in food prices. Many believe that hard-line opponents of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani instigated first demonstrations in conservative city of Mashh in rastern Iran, trying to direct public anger at president. But as protests spre from town to town, backlash turned against entire ruling class.

Zam is one of three opposition figures apparently detained in intelligence operations abro. In late July, a California-based member of an Iranian militant opposition group in exile was abducted by Iran while staying in Dubai, his family has said.

Iran also is believed to have seized former he of Arab Struggle Movement for Liberation of Ahwaz, a militant separatist group, while he was in Turkey. Iran has accused Farajollah Cha’ab of being behind a 2018 attack on a military pare that killed at least 25 people and wounded 70.