Free Saeed Malekpour
| September 18, 2012 |
Saeed Malekpour is an Iranian web-programmer who had been working in Canada as a freelance web designer since 2004. On October 4, 2008, while visiting his terminally ill father in Iran, plain-clothed agents threw him in the back of a sedan and placed him under arrest. No warrant or proper identification was presented when he was taken into custody.
Malekpour wrote a program that enabled his clients to upload photos onto their websites. A party that was not affiliated with him used this program without his consent to upload pornography onto a website, resulting in his arrest. The accusations against him include “Taking action against national security by designing and moderating adult content websites;” “Agitation against the regime;” “Contact with foreign entities;” “Insulting the sanctity of Islam;” and “Insulting the Supreme Leader and President”.
In the time leading up to his sentencing, Malekpour was beaten, tortured, and psychologically abused. He spent over 365 days in solitary confinement since his arrest. Malekpour has written a letter detailing the egregious mistreatment in prison, as well stating that: "A large portion of my confession was extracted under pressure, physical and psychological torture, threats to myself and my family, and false promises of immediate release upon giving a false confession to whatever the interrogators dictated," the letter says.
In 2010 he was condemned to death by the Revolutionary court, a sentence reaffirmed by the Iranian Supreme Court in 2011.
Since 2009 supporters have developed websites, written letters, and signed petitions, in an effort to reverse his fate.
Malekpour wrote a program that enabled his clients to upload photos onto their websites. A party that was not affiliated with him used this program without his consent to upload pornography onto a website, resulting in his arrest. The accusations against him include “Taking action against national security by designing and moderating adult content websites;” “Agitation against the regime;” “Contact with foreign entities;” “Insulting the sanctity of Islam;” and “Insulting the Supreme Leader and President”.
In the time leading up to his sentencing, Malekpour was beaten, tortured, and psychologically abused. He spent over 365 days in solitary confinement since his arrest. Malekpour has written a letter detailing the egregious mistreatment in prison, as well stating that: "A large portion of my confession was extracted under pressure, physical and psychological torture, threats to myself and my family, and false promises of immediate release upon giving a false confession to whatever the interrogators dictated," the letter says.
In 2010 he was condemned to death by the Revolutionary court, a sentence reaffirmed by the Iranian Supreme Court in 2011.
Since 2009 supporters have developed websites, written letters, and signed petitions, in an effort to reverse his fate.
