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Iran Summons EU Envoys for Protesting Reporter's Hanging

Ruhollah Zam seen on trial in June 2020. (Reuters)
Ruhollah Zam seen on trial in June 2020. (Reuters)
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Iran Summons EU Envoys for Protesting Reporter's Hanging

Ruhollah Zam seen on trial in June 2020. (Reuters)
Ruhollah Zam seen on trial in June 2020. (Reuters)

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

IRNA said that an Iranian foreign ministry official summoned the German ambassador because of EU statements on the 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.

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

Iran will also summon today the French ambassador to Tehran over European reactions to the journalist's execution, IRNA added.

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

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

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

Zam’s website AmadNews and a channel he created on the popular messaging app Telegram had spread the timings of the 2017 protests and embarrassing information about officials that directly challenged Iran’s theocracy.

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

The initial spark for the 2017 protests was a sudden jump in food prices. Many believe that hardline opponents of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani instigated the first demonstrations in the conservative city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran, trying to direct public anger at the president. But as protests spread from town to town, the backlash turned against the entire ruling class.

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Impeachment Trial of South Korea’s Yoon Adjourned after He Does Not Attend

Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shout slogans during a rally to oppose his impeachment near the Constitutional Court in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shout slogans during a rally to oppose his impeachment near the Constitutional Court in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
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Impeachment Trial of South Korea’s Yoon Adjourned after He Does Not Attend

Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shout slogans during a rally to oppose his impeachment near the Constitutional Court in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shout slogans during a rally to oppose his impeachment near the Constitutional Court in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)

South Korea's Constitutional Court adjourned the opening session of the impeachment trial of suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol within minutes on Tuesday, after the embattled leader did not attend court.

A lawyer advising Yoon had said the president, who has been holed up in his hillside villa in Seoul for weeks, would not attend, saying a bid by authorities to detain him prevented Yoon from expressing his position at the trial.

The next trial session is scheduled for Thursday and if Yoon also does not attend, the trial proceedings will go ahead with his legal team representing him, acting chief justice Moon Hyung-bae said.

Outside the court, one of Yoon's lawyers Yoon Kab-keun said the president would decide whether to go to the court in person on Thursday after discussions on his defense strategy.

The Constitutional Court must decide within 180 days whether to remove Yoon from office or restore his presidential powers.

Yoon also faces a criminal investigation for alleged insurrection, with authorities seeking to execute an arrest warrant after he ignored summons to appear for questioning.

"A legitimate warrant must exist, and... it must be legally presented and executed," which does not mean "jumping fences or damaging property without presenting a warrant", his lawyer Yoon said, repeating that the current arrest warrant was invalid.

Yoon's declaration of martial law on Dec. 3 that was withdrawn after about six hours has plunged one of Asia's most vibrant democracies into a period of unprecedented political turbulence.

Yoon's chief of staff said on Tuesday that Yoon's office can consult with investigating authorities in order to avoid a clash during the execution of the arrest warrant against Yoon.

Yoon could go to a third location outside of his fortified residence, or a visit to his home could be arranged so that investigating authorities could question Yoon, presidential chief of staff Chung Jin-suk said in a statement on Tuesday.

Investigating authorities, including the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) and the police, have received a re-issued arrest warrant from a South Korean court after their first attempt to detain Yoon for questioning failed after a stand-off with presidential security officers earlier this month.

CIO, the police and Presidential Security Service (PSS) met on Tuesday to discuss the execution of the latest arrest warrant, investigating authorities said in a statement.

At the meeting, police and CIO asked the PSS for cooperation in executing the warrant peacefully and safely, and were awaiting a response.

The defense ministry said on Tuesday that military forces in charge of presidential security would not be mobilized in relation to Yoon's warrant execution.

Amid South Korea's political chaos, North Korea launched several short-range ballistic missiles on Tuesday, coinciding with a visit to Seoul by Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, and less than a week before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

South Korean lawmakers, after being briefed by the National Intelligence Service, said on Monday that the North's recent weapons tests were partly aimed at "showing off its US deterrent assets and drawing Trump's attention".