Happy Birthday, Saeed Malekpour!

Today, on 5 June 2016, is Saeed Malekpour’s 41st Birthday. It is his 8th birthday he has spent in Evin prison in Iran. I write he “has spent” his birthday and not he “has celebrated”, because I cannot imagine that he would celebrate in Evin prison.

1. Who is Saeed Malekpour?

Saeed Malekpour is an Iranian web designer and software engineer. He studied at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran where he got a degree in metallurgical engineering. In 2004 Saeed left Iran and moved to Canada to continue his studies and build a new life for himself in Canada.

In 2005 Saeed Malekpour became a permanent resident in Canada. He worked as a free lance web developer and lived in Victoria, British Columbia.

In October 2008, Saeed Malekpour’s father got very ill. Saeed went to Iran to see his dying father. On 4 October 2008 Saeed Malekpour was arrested near Vanak Square (in northern Tehran) by agents in plain clothes. He mentioned in a letter that they did not present an arrest warrant or any kind of identification. This “arrest” was rather an abduction. Saeed Malekpour was handcuffed and blindfolded. He was beaten and mistreated while he was brought to the place where he was questioned and detained.

2. What were the accusations against Saeed Malekpour?

Iran accused Saeed Malekpour of designing and moderating pornographic websites.

Maryam Nayeb Yazdi, a human rights activist and founder of @Persian2English, gave more details in her tweets over the last days. She explained that Saeed Malekpour run a website where he posted open source codes which he had written. Anyone could use these source codes and use it for whatever they want without his consent or without him even knowing about it. During his interrogation his interrogators claimed that they found a source code for uploading pornographic material to a website.

3. What was the evidence again Saeed Malekpour?

The only evidence which was presented during the trial was a confession by Saeed Malekpour.

After his arrest Saeed Malekpour was severely beaten and tortured in several ways. His interrogators claimed that they found Saeed’s source codes on a pornographic site. They forced him to sign a confession in which he acknowledged that his source codes were used to upload pornographic pictures and that he moderated these sites. He was blindfolded when he was asked to sign several papers and he did not see himself that his source codes were indeed used on such a website. He signed the papers and was also forced to make a confession in front of a camera. Contrary to the promises which were made to him this confession was broadcast by the Iranian state television several times which brought great distress to his family.

He made these confessions under severe pressure, physical and psychological torture, threats and false promises that he would be immediately released, if he confessed everything his interrogators wanted him to confess. During his first 18 months in prison, he spent more than 12 months in solitary confinement. He was blindfolded whenever he was allowed to leave his cell and was not allowed to contact his lawyer and for a long time he did not have any contact with his family.

Saeed Malekpour wrote a letter in March 2010 in which he describes the first 18 months of his detention and gave details about the torture and mistreatment he had to endure. You can find this letter here.

The only evidence used in the trial against Saeed Malekpour was a forced confession.

4. Which punishment was handed down against Saeed Malekpour?

The trial against Saeed Malekpour started on 16 March 2010. The charges against him were “conspiracy to commit crimes against national security”, “insulting Islam” and “insulting the Iranian Supreme Leader and the Iranian president, Mr. Ahmadinedjad”. In addition he was charged as “Corrupter of the Earth” which carries the death sentence. Saeed Malekpour did not know his case file and his lawyer was not allowed to discuss the case with his client and did not to attend the trial, because he was wrongly informed that the trial had been postponed.

In December 2010 Saeed Malekpour was sentenced to death. He was found guilty of “designing and moderating adult content websites”, “agitation against the regime” and “insulting the sanctity of Islam”. In June 2011 the Supreme Court annulled the verdict against him.

Despite this earlier decision the death sentence was upheld in January 2012 and the Supreme Court rejected an appeal from his lawyers. For one year this death sentence was open against Saeed Malekpour and he and his family feared that he could be executed at any time. In December 2012 his lawyer said that the death sentence was suspended.  His family reported later that his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Saeed Malekpour is still in Evin prison.

5. What can I do to help?

Saeed Malekpour’s sister Maryam Malekpour lives in Edmonton, Canada. She has been campaigning for his brother for years. Over the last two days there was again a tweet storm to mark Saeed Malekpour’s birthday and people all over the world were tweeting using the hashtags #FreeSaeedMalekpour #HBDSaeed and #CodingIsNotACrime.

If you use social media please follow her and support her fight for her brother. A few months ago she wrote a message to supporters and also suggested how people can help. Please have a look and sign and share the petition for her brother and generally make people aware of his fate.

6. Where can I find more information?

I used for my post the Wikipedia article about Saeed Malekpour and in particular information from the website Campaign for the Release of Saeed Malekpour. You will find a large amount of information on this website. It is set up on wordpress.com like my blog and you can also follow this website in the same way as you can follow my blog.

There were also a number of newspaper articles over the years. Here are links to four relatively recent articles:

• Saeed Malekpour: the Prisoner Left Behind in Iran, by Olivia Ward, 11 April 2016, The Star
• The Sister Of A Canadian Resident Jailed In Iran Campaigns For His Release, by Maryam Nayeb Yazdi, 1 February 2016, The Huffington Post
• Sister of Saeed Malekpour Says Family Hopes for a Pardon for Imprisoned Web Developer, 1 October 2015, International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran
• Paul Dewar: Bring Saeed Malekpour home, by Paul Delwar, National Post, 6 May 2015

Let us make sure that Saeed Malekpour is not forgotten and let us help his sister and his whole family in the campaign for this freedom.

I hope that this was Saeed Malekpour’s last birthday in Evin prison and I hope that he will be pardoned and that he can really celebrate his next birthday in freedom in Canada.