Free Saeed Malekpour

Name: Saeed Malekpour, Website Developer & Programmer
Age: 35
Case Status: Detained since October 2008 for “Internet offenses.” Trial scheduled for October 26, 2010

Background
Saeed Malekpour is a 35-year-old prisoner of conscience who was imprisoned in October of 2008 while visiting his terminally ill father in Iran, for case of relating to “internet offenses.”

The charges brought against Saeed include “Taking action against national security by designing and moderating adult content websites;” “Agitation against the regime;” “Contact with foreign entities;” “Insulting the sanctity of Islam;” and “Insulting the Supreme Leader and President.” He could be charged as “Corrupter of the Earth” (Mofsed fel-Arz), a charge that is punishable by the death sentence. Saeed continues to deny these vague allegations.

Saeed Malekpour, detained since October 2008

In an open letter, Saeed described the physical and psychological tortures at the hands of the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Cyber Army which pressured him to false confessions. Since his arrest, Saeed remains confined in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison without indictment or access to a lawyer. Saeed has spent more than 12 months in solitary confinement and denied books, newspapers, and contact with the outside world.

Saeed graduated from Sharif University of Technology with a Bachelors degree in Material Engineering. He worked as a technical expert at Iran Khodro (the country’s biggest car manufacturer), as a technical inspector in a private corporation, and later as a material research associate for a metallurgical research center, RMRC in Tehran.

In 2004, Saeed and his wife moved to Canada, where he became a permanent resident. He began work as a freelance website developer & programmer responsible for developing only parts of websites or portions involving, for example, IT system management and system security.

While working as developer in Canada, Saeed designed a program that would allow his clients to upload pictures, and as is a common courtesy in programming, included his name and info in the file.

This program, Saeed’s wife – Dr. Fatimeh Eftekhari – explains, was used in an adult content website WITHOUT Saeed’s knowledge or approval. “The only recognizable name in the program was Saeed’s,” she continued, “which led to his arrest” and to the accusations claiming that Saeed was responsible for the development and administration of the website.