of running a pornographic website, a lawyer working on the case said last Thursday.
The death sentence meted out to Saeed Malekpour was reinstated by the court after it had reportedly been annulled in June, said Shadi Sadr, a lawyer with the advocacy group Justice for Iran, citing the accused’s sister.
“I talked to his sister two days ago and she told me that according to one of the branches of the Supreme Court the death penalty was confirmed. It could be executed at any time from now on,” Sadr told Agence France Presse from Britain.
Malekpour, a 35-year-old computer programmer, was sentenced to death in December 2010 after being found guilty of “designing and moderating adult content websites,” “agitation against the regime,” and “insulting the sanctity of Islam,” according to his supporters.
The Canadian government protested the verdict, which the Supreme Court then reportedly annulled in June 2011.
Malekpour’s supporters say he developed a program that allows photographs to be posted to the Internet. That software was then marketed and bought by some people creating a porn site. Malekpour’s name appeared in the software credits on that porn site. But his supporters say he had nothing to do with the website.
It wasn’t known why the Supreme Court decided to reinstitute a death sentence it had vacated months earlier. Last year, it first vacated the death sentence entirely, then later said the case should be reviewed by the original trial court, which apparently came back with the same death sentence, which the Supreme Court has now confirmed.
The fact that Malekpour was a Canadian resident may have something to do with the way his case was handled. Iranian relations with Canada have been very sour ever since the July 2003 death in Iranian custody of Zahra Kazemi, a 54-year-old photo-journalist and dual Iranian-Canadian citizen. Since then, Canada has led the annual effort at the United Nations that always results in Iran being denounced for human rights violations.
Malekpour is not the only Iranian with Canadian links to be in trouble with the Islamic Republic. Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, a Canadian citizen and Toronto shoe salesman, has also been sentenced to death by Iran. Another Canadian citizen, Hossain Derakhshan, known popularly as the “blogfather” for his role in promoting blogging in Iran, is serving a 20-year sentence for those efforts.
The regime may also be turning harsher toward expatriates. Just weeks ago, it sentenced American-born Amir Hekmati, to death on questionable espionage charges.
Amnesty International said, “The Supreme Court should have investigated the reports of Saeed Malekpour’s torture instead of confirming his sentence.”
A resident of Canada since 2004, Malekpour was arrested in Iran in 2008 while visiting his dying father.
The Canadian government and several organizations, including Amnesty International and the Inter-Parliamentary Group for Human Rights in Iran headed by Canadian lawmaker Irwin Cotler, have called for Malekpour’s immediate release.
“This is yet another example of the criminalization of innocence and the wanton executions that pass for ‘judicial decision-making in Iran’ but which have resulted in Iran having the highest execution rate per capita in the world,” the parliamentary group said.
The Supreme Court’s new decision comes as the regime is cracking down on bloggers and other Internet users, said Ann Harrison, Amnesty Interna-tional’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“By confirming Saeed Malekpour’s death sentence after an unfair trial, the Iranian authorities are sending a message to Iranians not to freely express their views, or even to help others to do so, including on the Internet,” Harrison said.