TEHRAN, 12 December, 2020, (TON): Iranian dissident journalist Ruhollah Zam, who was convicted of fomenting violence during the 2017 anti-government protests, was executed on Saturday.

Iran’s Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence of Zam, who was captured in 2019 after years in exile. His Amadnews feed had more than one million followers.

State broadcaster Seda va Sima said on Saturday Zam, “director of the counter-revolutionary Amadnews network, was hanged this morning.”

Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced the arrest of Zam in October 2019, claiming he had been “directed by France's intelligence service”.

State television said he was “under the protection of several countries' intelligence services”.

The official IRNA news agency said he was also convicted of espionage for France and an unnamed country in the region, cooperating with the “hostile government of America”, acting against “the country's security”, insulting the “sanctity of Islam” and instigating violence during the 2017 protests.

At least 25 people were killed during the unrest in December 2017 and January 2018 that was sparked by economic hardship.

Zam was charged with “corruption on earth”, which isone of the most serious offences under Iranian law and sentenced to death in June.