Can I activate an iPhone with a non working SIM Card?

I have an old iPhone that will be shipped off to another country soon, an iPhone 5 to be exact. Currently it is locked onto AT&T. It hasn't been used since I upgraded my phone months ago and has been reset to factory default settings and disactivated. In order for it to be activated and then unlocked for use in the country I'm sending it to, a SIM card must be inserted to complete the initial activation process. I still have the Nano SIM I used when it was my everyday phone, but it no longer works since the upgrade. Will this disactivated SIM card still activate my old iPhone? I don't want to try it until I'm sure as I'm not the best with phones and I've heard stories of people permanently locking their phones during the activation process.

Yes you can activate your iPhone… With iTunes… Install iTunes on your Laptop and please sign in into iTunes with your Apple Account and connect your iPhone… You can't activate your iphone with deactivated sim card… Though are some ways to activate without using sim card and iTunes but they work sometime only…

You will need to buy a r-sim. It will activate and also unlock your phone for any other carrier.

FYI the word is deactivated.

You could use the SIM you use now, assuming it too is a nanoSIM to activate it & then put it back in what phone you are using now.