Web Developer Sentenced To Death In Iran

An anonymous reader points out the case of Saeed Malekpour, an Iranian-born permanent resident of Canada who worked as a web developer. In 2008, during a visit to Iran, Malekpour was arrested and detained by Iranian authorities on charges that he designed and moderated "adult content websites." In 2009, he was sentenced to death for "acting against the national security, insulting and desecrating the principles of Islam, and agitating the public mind." Malekpour wrote photo-uploading software, and in a letter he sent from prison, he said it was used by porn sites without his knowledge. This week an Iranian court reviewed the case and confirmed that the death sentence was an acceptable punishment. According to one Canadian publication, "Human rights monitors believe that Malekpour, one of a number of people held on Internet-related charges, is trapped by a convoluted justice system that is manipulated by rival factions in Iran."

Savages

[Anonymous Coward]

Canada should go to war over this. Another country is murdering one of their citizens (Iranian born or not) on trumped-up charges. Are there any crimes in this savage country that don't deserve the death sentence?

Wait and See

[UncleWilly]

He will end up being pardoned and sent back to Canada, thus showing Iran as having an enlightened justice system. We've seen this over and over again.

Re:Savages

[qbast]

I don't remember Canada going to war when another of their citizens [wikipedia.org] was captured and tortured by different bunch of savages on trumped-up charges. Why act differently now?

Re:Savages

[haruchai]

Not to mention that they were complicit in the rendition of another of their citizens [wikipedia.org] into the hands of Syrian torturers.

Re:Lets tell it like it is

[jimicus]

Not, I would say, a particularly PC view, and doubtless one that will get you modded troll quicker than a quick thing. But I would temper your view with a rather more - shall we say diplomatic? - way of putting things.

Some views are fundamentally incompatible and unless both parties are prepared to compromise, conflict will ultimately result. Full stop, end of conversation. Get together people who feel strongly enough to kill to make their point and give them the means to do so, you probably shouldn't be too surprised when they do. There's no way of getting around this, and to pretend there is is probably the most damaging thing extreme political correctness has ever achieved.

In this case, the conflict is between very conservative Muslims who happen to be in charge of a country and the West, but it could just as easily be between animal liberation people and drugs testing labs.

Questions anunswered

[mapkinase]

1/ what's the name of the software (I tried to google him in various file extensions, but could not find him)
2/ list of websites that use it.

Re:In other words,

[anagama]

Well actually, Obama just executed an American citizen (Al Awlaki) by drone attack without any evidence, not even a show trial, and it appears that the reason was posting partisan videos in which he talked smack about America. So at least in Iran you get a show trial before your execution. The fact that people look at this story and think "Iran is Evil" without thinking the same of the Feds, should create huge cognitive dissonance. That it does not, suggests to me that the civil liberties our country was founded on don't have much time for this world, at least not in America.

Re:In other words,

[Anonymous Coward]

"Great comparison between justice systems in Iran and USA. "

Buddy, you don't have the first clue about what REALLY goes on in the US "justice system".
I mean you have no fucking idea. All you "know" is what you have been told by the people who
want you to believe you live in a free and just society. Well, the truth runs counter to the idea that
the US is a free and just society.

I have done time in the US system.

In the US, torture does happen, to US citizens. It's called "diesel therapy". Ask any
prison guard about this phrase. There are also people who have been locked up for years
without a trial. The method used for this is for a judge to order the person sent to a prison
facility which has psychological "expertise". The person can be held there with no trial for
years, and his friends and family don't even know what has happened to him. Yes, this is terrifying,
and it is real. No, I don't have a citation, because the government makes it difficult to acquire
evidence about these things. But I will stake my life that everything I wrote is true.