Malekpour Family Allowed Visit After Three Months

The family of Saeed Malekpour, an Iranian-Canadian who was sentenced to death in January 2012, was finally allowed to see him after three months of not being able to visit him. His sister, Maryam Malekpour, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that Saeed’s interrogators have prevented him from seeing his family.

“During these three months, authorities never answered any of our requests or questions, and the numerous letters I wrote were left unanswered. Only some reliable sources whose names I cannot reveal said that Saeed’s interrogators do not authorize visits for him. Even when the case judge issued a permit for visitations for Saeed, we were not allowed to see him. We guess that because they took Saeed in front of a television camera three times in order for him to make confessions and to show that he was remorseful and each time Saeed refused to give a confession, perhaps they did not allow him to have visitors to punish him,” said Maryam Malekpour.

36-year-old Saeed Malekpour, a web developer and resident of Canada, has been sentenced to death on the charge of “insulting Islamic sanctities,” for alleged “management of pornographic websites.” Malekpour’s family has maintained that he simply developed image-sharing software that was used, without his knowledge, to post pornographic photos.

Maryam Malekpour told the Campaign that authorities have not given her brother clear information about his upcoming execution: ” … [W]e were able to see Saeed two weeks ago. Saeed’s morale was good. They had not informed him of the confirmation of his death sentence, so we didn’t tell him anything either, lest the news upsets him. His death sentence remains in the Judiciary’s Sentence Enforcement Unit. Neither he nor his lawyers have been served the confirmation, but we are really fearful that his death sentence may be carried out suddenly.”

“I heard a while back through Saeed’s cellmates that he has developed kidney stones and is in a lot of pain. His cellmates had also asked the prison guards several times to take him to a doctor, but they only transferred him to the prison infirmary. When I heard this I spoke with a specialist and got him his medicine and sent it to him,” added Maryam Malekpour, explaining that since he has begun taking the medicine, his condition has improved.

Security forces arrested Canadian resident Saeed Malekpour, 36, when he returned to Iran in 2008 to visit his ailing father. He appeared on Iranian state TV in 2009 and confessed to charges raised against him. In October 2010 he was sentenced to death on charges of “insulting Islamic sanctities” for alleged “management of pornographic websites.” The Supreme Court overturned the sentence in November 2011 because of deficiencies in investigations and insufficient evidence, and forwarded his case to the Revolutionary Court. Even so, the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence on 30 January 2012.