Iranian Web Developer Student to Death
Iran's state media announced that the Supreme Court will uphold a death sentence against a web developer convicted of spreading corruption.
The semi-official government news agency, Fars, says blogger Saeed Malekpour was found guilty of promoting pornographic sites. The news outlet confirmed that the Supreme Court approved the death sentence handed down by a Revolutionary Court that deals with security crimes.
Malekpour was reportedly imprisoned in October, 2008, and confessed on Iranian TV that he developed and promoted pornographic websites.
Gerdab.ir that is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, called Malekpour the head of the biggest Persian-language network of pornographic websites.
The Iranian community in Toronto protested Malekpour’s sentence on January 28. Despite cold weather, protesters gathered holding signs and pictures of Malekpour.
In an interview podcast posted on journalist Masih Alinejad’s Facebook, Malekpour’s sister announced that her brother is under pressure to confess again. In the interview, she added that the family’s lawyers were not informed about the sentence approval.
