Man Sentenced to Death in Iran For “Corruption” After Selling Access Cards for Satellite TV
A man who sold Iranians access cards for satellite television has been sentenced to death for “corruption on earth” the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned.
In his verdict issued July 12, 2018, Judge Pour-Rezaei (first name unknown) of Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court in Isfahan, central Iran, accused Mohammad Hossein Maleki of selling access cards that included pornographic channels—a charge Maleki has denied.
The 47-year-old administrator of the Asre Javan website, Maleki, also known as “Arian,” sold cards for the CCcam website, which claims to offer digital access to more than 6,000 television channels around the world for 10 euros per month.
“Arian agreed that he was in the electronics business to set up websites to sell satellite equipment and get subscribers for satellite channels via the internet with the intention to access sports show, films, and documentaries, but rejected selling porn channels,” said one of his associates in an interview with CHRI on July 13.
Satellite TV is banned in Iran but millions of people watch it at home with equipment and access cards widely available on the black market.
“For years I was his manager at Asre Iran selling CCcam accounts, which is a common business in Iran involving a lot of people. If his punishment is the death penalty, that means hundreds of people should be hanged,” added the associate who asked not to be identified for security purposes.
“The authorities don’t have anything against him. They couldn’t even get a confession out of him,” the source told CHRI. “But it was a mistake not to publicize his case until he was sentenced some 16 months later. We all made a mistake.”
Maleki was arrested on March 1, 2017, but his family chose not to inform the media.
Married with two children, Maleki is being held at Isfahan’s Dastgerd Prison.
In September 2010, a Revolutionary Court sentenced Iranian-born Canadian permanent resident Saeed Malekpour to death for allegedly creating an online pornographic network but the sentence was ultimately commuted from death to life imprisonment in August 2013.
