Ruhollah Zam's father denies his family's involvement in his arrest
The father of Ruhollah Zam, founder of the Amadnews website and Telegram channel, issued a statement denying his family's involvement in his arrest.
In a statement, Muhammad Ali Zam welcomed his son's arrest, calling him "naive and careless" and saying that none of his family members had participated in "preparing the conditions, preparing for his travel, and arrest."
Previously, news had been published on social media about Ruhollah Zam's family cooperating with the Revolutionary Guards to bring him to Iraq.
Mohammad Ali Zam also wrote that his son's return to Iran was done "under the pretext of meeting with a Shiite authority."
Previously, a number of media outlets had reported that Mr. Zam's arrest occurred after his trip to Iraq, and that this trip was to meet with Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the leader of the Iraqi Shiites, in Najaf.
However, on Wednesday, October 14, Iranian media quoted an informed official in the office of this religious authority based in Najaf, Iraq, as saying that Ruhollah Zam "has never had any direct or indirect contact with this office" and "no one has sent him a request to meet."
On October 12, the Revolutionary Guards announced that they had arrested Ruhollah Zam in what they called a "complex operation using information deception."
Although the location of Ruhollah Zam's arrest has not been officially announced, his wife and relatives say he disappeared while on a trip to Iraq.
Mohammad Tolai, the head of intelligence at the IRGC's General Command Office, announced on Tuesday, October 13, without giving details, that Ruhollah Zam, the founder of the Amadnews website, had been arrested "in cooperation with other intelligence services."
The 8:30 PM news segment on Iranian state television claimed that Ruhollah Zam had been arrested in Iraqi Kurdistan, near the Iranian border.
However, the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government called this claim false.
Ruhollah Zam is the founder of the Amadnews website, and after the protests in January 2017, Islamic Republic officials made statements against him.
For example, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, Iran's Minister of Communications, in a Twitter message addressed to Pavel Durov, CEO of the Telegram network, accused the Amadennews channel of "spreading hatred, using Molotov cocktails, armed rebellion, and social unrest" and demanded that its activities be stopped.
After that, the Amadnews channel, with more than one million and four hundred thousand members, was blocked by the operators of this messaging network.
The CEO of the Telegram messaging network wrote on Twitter that the activities of the "Amadnews channel have been suspended due to disregard for regulations related to non-incitement to violence."
However, the operators of "Amadnews" were able to re-attract some of their audience within a short period of time after being blocked by launching similar channels.
The Islamic Republic's security agencies have also arrested a number of people in recent years on charges of collaborating with this site. Ruhollah Zam's brother and two sisters were also previously arrested on this charge and imprisoned for a period of time.
Source: Radio Farda
