Iran Raps France’s Meddling After Court Rulings
TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday dismissed France’s meddlesome comments about an Iranian court’s rulings regarding the case of a man sentenced to death over his role in violent riots that engulfed the country in 2017 and 2018 and a woman sentenced to five years in prison on national security charges.
"It is the purview of Iranian courts to hear cases and issue sentences for crimes committed by its nationals,” ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.
On Tuesday, Iranian authorities said Ruhollah Zam had been found guilty by a court in Tehran of "corruption on earth,” a term often used to describe attempts to overthrow the Islamic Republic.
Zam spent years in France before his detention by Iranian authorities. He ran Amad News, a website and channel on the messaging platform Telegram, out of France, where he had lived since 2011. He used the channel to provoke riots and teach rioters how to make bombs and attack targets in Iran.
The judiciary also said on Tuesday that an appeals court had upheld the sentence for Fariba Adelkhah, an Iranian who was arrested in Tehran in June, 2019.
Adelkhahwas sentenced to five years in prison in May on national security charges, with an additional one-year jail term for disseminating "propaganda against the Islamic Republic”.
She will serve five years, the judiciary said, because she has already been in detention for over a year, according to the Fars news agency.
"Ms. Adelkhah and Ruhollah Zam have been sentenced proportional to the crimes committed and are serving their sentences,” Mousavi said Wednesday.
He also stressed that France’s foreign ministry lacks any competence and authority to meddle in Iranian judicial cases."The Islamic Republic of Iran would not approve any interference in its internal affairs.”
The ministry had described the death sentence as "a serious blow to freedom of expression and press freedom in Iran,” saying Paris opposed its use "everywhere and in all circumstances”.
"It is the purview of Iranian courts to hear cases and issue sentences for crimes committed by its nationals,” ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.
On Tuesday, Iranian authorities said Ruhollah Zam had been found guilty by a court in Tehran of "corruption on earth,” a term often used to describe attempts to overthrow the Islamic Republic.
Zam spent years in France before his detention by Iranian authorities. He ran Amad News, a website and channel on the messaging platform Telegram, out of France, where he had lived since 2011. He used the channel to provoke riots and teach rioters how to make bombs and attack targets in Iran.
The judiciary also said on Tuesday that an appeals court had upheld the sentence for Fariba Adelkhah, an Iranian who was arrested in Tehran in June, 2019.
Adelkhahwas sentenced to five years in prison in May on national security charges, with an additional one-year jail term for disseminating "propaganda against the Islamic Republic”.
She will serve five years, the judiciary said, because she has already been in detention for over a year, according to the Fars news agency.
"Ms. Adelkhah and Ruhollah Zam have been sentenced proportional to the crimes committed and are serving their sentences,” Mousavi said Wednesday.
He also stressed that France’s foreign ministry lacks any competence and authority to meddle in Iranian judicial cases."The Islamic Republic of Iran would not approve any interference in its internal affairs.”
The ministry had described the death sentence as "a serious blow to freedom of expression and press freedom in Iran,” saying Paris opposed its use "everywhere and in all circumstances”.