
Iranian Web Programmer’s Death Sentence to Be Carried Out Any Moment - pooriaazimi
http://freejafarpanahi.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/urgent-saeed-malekpours-death-sentence-to-be-carried-out-any-moment
======
faramarz
Wow! That could have been me! During the 2008 post-election protests and the
beginning of the green movement, I aggregated all the images coming out of
Iran into my personal flickr account. BIG-STUPID-MISTAKE! These were brutal,
news breaking images .

Little did I know people and news organizations around the world were
including these images in their articles, blogs, tweets etc and attributing
me, and sometimes printing my full name as the _original_ photographer. If you
do a google search of my full name, you still come up with results like that
(luckily not in the first page). I've tried unsuccessfully to get them
removed.

Seeing what is happening to Malekpour, I don't think it's safe to go back. Not
anytime soon

~~~
tomjen3
The reason he is scheduled for execution is that he is not a Canadian citizen
yet. Had he been, Iran would just have expelled him.

~~~
DrJokepu
That's not the case. Forfeiting Iranian citizenship is a fairly complicated
process that ultimately requires permission from the uppermost levels of the
Iranian Government as well as completing your national service. As long as he
has Iranian citizenship, it's irrelevant whether he has a Canadian passport or
not, it's a basic rule of international law that your country cannot
(officially) provide you diplomatic assistance in another country where you're
also a citizen.

------
cobrausn
As annoyed as I often get at my country, it is things like this that make me
glad to be here and able to voice opinion about all its flaws without fear of
something like this. Occasionally I might have some regrets about my time in
the service, but not today.

I just wish there was something we could do for this guy - I hate knowing what
I know about it and also being completely powerless to influence the outcome
of this in any way at all.

~~~
peterwwillis
You can do something. Our country's foreign relations with Iran may really
shaky but that doesn't stop us from being able to officially condemn their
behavior, which the international community will hear, and potentially echo.

Write your representatives and tell them how you feel and that they should do
something about it.

~~~
calibraxis
That unfortunately won't turn out to be the ethical thing to do. Our
government overthrew Iran's secular, parliamentary democracy and installed the
Shah — and it's still threatening them. (They fail to have a sufficiently
obedient tyranny.) This proposal you mention is tantamount to supporting more
attacks.

Fortunately, there's a lot of room to really help out mideasterners — by
getting our government off their backs and stop supporting their regimes.

And anyone in an ethical mood need look no further than their own country! The
US jails far more of its own people than any other country. On Feb 20, you can
participate in a nearby Occupy 4 Prisoners.
(<http://occupy4prisoners.org/actions/>)

~~~
afterburner
Wait, are you speaking out against the US criminal justice system? Is that
because you... plan to invade it? Or do you believe that maybe, just maybe,
_saying_ something might achieve the kind of push-back you want to happen?

Maybe countries could do that too...? Hmm. And I'm pretty sure they don't have
to be pure virgin countries in order to condemn unfairness.

~~~
moo
Wait, are you trying to reform Iran to internationally end the death penalty
for certain crimes? Or are you just playing into CIA psyops to overthrow the
Iranian government.

Maybe the U.S. could do that too...? Hmm. Too bad there wasn't this same
energy to stop the U.S. from executing Troy Davis, or murdering Al-Awlaki's 16
year old son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen. Probably couldn't get
that support in racist North America.

~~~
J3L2404
What do you expect from a continent that's only been inhabited for fifteen
thousand years?

As for the meme that "America is the worst country!"-

Although I would love for us to shoulder less of the burden and withdraw, the
nuclear fallout would circle the globe.

~~~
moo
Under the NPT Treaty Iran has a right to develop nuclear energy. As for the
Western canard about Iran's nuclear weapons, that dog won't hunt. It is also a
double unfair standard for the imperialist U.S. and Israel to have nuclear
weapons and prevent Iran from having similar weapons.

~~~
pyre
Truly. The world would be a much safer place if every country had
intercontinental nuclear warheads. Even better if everyone had guns that fired
mini-nukes. It would completely end all crime and war!

------
pooriaazimi
Just two days ago, his sister Maryam Malekpour told[1] the International
Campaign for Human Rights in Iran: “[Saeed] has been pressured [by security
forces] to make confessions before a television camera, which he has
fortunately not accepted”.

He didn't accept that, so now they're having him executed.

[1] <http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2012/02/malekpour-sister/>

~~~
zaroth
How do you know that they wouldn't have used the coerced confession to try to
justify the execution?

------
lowglow
I don't have words for how much this upsets me.

------
pooriaazimi
Related HN submission:

 _Death sentence for Iranian web programmer_ –
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3484674> (28 days ago)

------
petenixey
Copied verbatim from: https Saeed's Facebook group:

<https://www.facebook.com/Free.Saeed.Malekpour> \----------------- Saeed
Malekpour's sister has written an urgent appeal to the United Nations. She is
hoping that the the United Nations may help her save Saeed's life.

You can help get Maryam's voice heard faster by emailing her letter to the
following UN contacts:

 __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __Navi
Pillay, UN High Commissioner for the Office of Human Rights

Email: npillay@ohchr.org Fax: +41-22-917-9008 (Geneva) +1-212-963-4097 (NY)

His Excellency Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations

Fax: 212-963-7055 (You can send a fax for free online here), Tel:
1-212-963-7160, 61, 62

Additional emails: urgent-action@ohchr.org, inquiries@un.org

 __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __*

To the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights:

My name is Maryam Malekpour. I am Saeed Malekpour's sister. I am writing this
urgent request to you on behalf of my family. We live in Tehran, Iran. My
brother has been living with the threat of death in Evin prison since October
2008. We require your urgent help. When Saeed's lawyers visited the
Revolutionary Court two days ago to follow up on his case file, they
discovered that the file containing the death sentence ruling was no longer
there, and it was not in the possession of the Supreme Court either. Saeed
Malekpour’s lawyers were informed that this only meant that the case file was
sent to the Circuit Court for Execution of Sentences.

One of Saeed’s lawyers said: ”If we [Saeed's lawyers] had a chance to review
the case file, then we would have had a chance to prevent the execution of the
sentence. By reviewing the case we could have pointed out that an expert has
never been brought into the case for investigation. The case file was sent
straight to the Circuit Court for Execution of Sentences." He continued:
“Since Saeed Malekpour’s sentence is in the possession of the Circuit Court
for Execution of Sentences, this means that they are capable of executing
Saeed at any moment they wish.”

Saeed's case file was sent to the the execution of sentences office even
though his lawyer's never reviewed the case file beforehand. Many illegal
actions have been taken to condemn Saeed to death, including the fact that no
expert has ever reviewed the case. Some other examples of illegal actions
taken are: One of Saeed's charges is, "Corrupting the Earth", however no one,
not even the lawyers have been able to review the charges in Saeed's case
file. They want to execute Saeed but his case file still possesses
discrepancies never investigated. The only evidence they have to condemn Saeed
to death are hours of false confessions Saeed gave while under physical and
psychological torture. I am aware that the United Nations already possesses a
detailed record of Saeed's accounts of torture.

Saeed was living in Canada with his wife. They are Permanent Residents of that
country. He came for a visit to Iran in October 2008 to visit his father, who
died from a brain tumour shortly after Saeed's arrest.

We cannot believe Saeed was arrested in the first place let alone sentenced to
death. We cannot believe that we have been forced to live a horrific nightmare
every day for more than three years. Saeed can be illegally executed at any
moment unless the international community defends his life. Saeed's lawyers
have told our family that the only hope left is the international community.
All legal channels within Iran have been exhausted.

We are desperate for your help!

Please help Saeed. We can provide you with any further information needed. If
we all do our part, we can possibly save Saeed from execution.

Sincerely,

Maryam Malekpour Tehran, Iran

~~~
dazbradbury
Or copy the letter from here (which I think may be getting updated with
additional emails):

[http://peoplewithoutnation.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/maryam-m...](http://peoplewithoutnation.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/maryam-
malekpour-makes-an-urgent-appeal-to-the-united-nations/)

------
rdl
I'm unclear why Canada hasn't granted him citizenship while in Iranian
custody, just to escalate matters. Although I don't think Iran recognizes dual
nationality for its citizens, so even with Canadian (or US) citizenship, he'd
still be an Iranian national to them.

------
baltcode
Does anyone have any facts on the case? What software did he write, where was
it released, which website used it, and what evidence was presented for the
other charges?

------
mgallivan
Can someone explain the il/legality behind this? Articles say that the man is
"a Canadian resident" - does this not affect where he can be tried?

~~~
pooriaazimi
He's a Canadian resident, not a _citizen_. Unfortunately that makes all the
difference in the world:

 _“Canada condemns Iran’s reported decision to execute Mr. Malekpour. Sadly,
his case is far from the only example of Iran’s utter disregard for human
life. The regime in Tehran frequently ignores principles like due process for
its citizens domestically, and international human rights obligations
generally.”_

Canadian governments _condemns_ his execution, but nothing more.

~~~
raganwald
And rightly (although sadly) so. Consider the reverse: A Canadian citizen
takes up residence in a third-world country, where he has sex with minors. He
returns to Canada, where he is arrested under Canadian law for engaging in sex
tourism.

The other country may want to prosecute him, they may not, they may want to
protest, they may not. But the Canadian government is not bound by any treaty
or agreement to send him back to the other country.

------
DevX101
Does anyone have a copy/link to his code?

------
arjn
What does this mean for other open-source developers. For example - Linus
Torvalds, GKH etc. Or what about Tim-Berner's Lee ? Will they be executed if
they every visit Iran ?

~~~
Tichy
I wouldn't risk it, personally. Although it might make a difference if you are
an Iranian citizen or not.

~~~
tomjen3
Iran wouldn't have touched Tim since he is a UK citizen. That is just begging
for the US to go 'special relatioship' on his ass. Linus is a finn, so he is
properly also safe. I don't know the last one.

~~~
pooriaazimi
They were _touching_ those American hikers for a couple years though, weren't
they?

~~~
jrockway
In that case, it was clear that the Americans committed some sort of crime
(straying across an international border), and so it was Iran's right to do
whatever they wanted (to extract as much political value from the event as
possible).

Someone visiting the country on a valid visa and facing execution because of
their positive contributions to society in their home country is a whole other
issue. I'm guessing that Iran, in that case, would have a lot less precedent
to stand on, so they might not play the same political games.

------
JS_startup
Wow, I'm actually stunned. The general consensus seemed to be that Iran would
pardon him at the last minute and just have him exiled. Maybe that will still
be the case?

------
arjn
I was hoping the threat of execution was one of the usual sabre-rattling,
grand-standing moves Iran keeps making to piss off the international community
or just to get back at them. Now it seems they're taking it too far. Surely
the bosses in Iran can see how stupid this is.

~~~
9999
Yes, I really don't understand moves like this. With Israel poised to attack
Iran's nuclear facilities, and perhaps start an all out air war with them, you
would think Iran would want to gain some good will from the international
community... I would just write it off as a country run by madmen that are not
rational actors, but any number of other madmen have played things better. I
wonder what the regime wants for freeing him, maybe they just want too much.

~~~
InclinedPlane
This is not a rational assessment of Iran's rulers. The Iranian regime doesn't
care about international good will. They care about power, and geopolitical
advantage. They have been exporting terror to neighboring states for 3 decades
through Hezbollah and other organizations. They have been involved in a proxy
war with Israel for ages. They have recently been working as fast as possible
to acquire home grown nuclear weapons, and the ICBMs to deliver them anywhere.

The Iranian regime doesn't care about world sentiment or about the Iranian
people. They care about holding on to power and furthering their narrow
ideological beliefs.

------
johnbender
If anyone came here, like me, wondering what to do to help there's a petition
that's linked to on his facebook page:

<https://www.gopetition.com/petition/40162.html> [includes unecrypted assets]

------
mrleinad
How about flooding Twitter with mentions to @chavezcandanga, asking him to ask
the Iranian president to do something about this? They're very close, and his
twitter account is really active. I just tweeted him this link.

------
jakejake
Does anybody have a link to the software that Saaed created? It sounds like it
was just either a library or just generic image sharing software, but none of
the stories seem to link to it.

------
jasonkostempski
Imagine what it feels like to know the whole world is aware you're about to be
murdered and no one is likely to stop it from happening.

------
paulhauggis
Another example of why Iran is an evil dictatorship.

~~~
jrockway
Democracies have the death penalty, too. This is another example of why the
death penalty is never an acceptable punishment for a crime; this guy hasn't
even had a chance to appeal properly, and they're already planning to execute
him. That's not justice, that's barbaric.

~~~
pooriaazimi
> _This is another example of why the death penalty is never an acceptable
> punishment for a crime_

I disagree. Bashar al-Asad has killed 8300 Syrian in the past 11 months, and
now the country is on the verge of civil war. _Some_ crimes deserve death
penalty (though, obviously writing an open-source app does not qualify!).

~~~
jrockway
The fact that the death penalty seems reasonable in one case doesn't make it
reasonable. The death penalty is inappropriate because it doesn't have any
checks and balances; if you are executed and later found not guilty, you can't
be brought back to life.

It's clear that fear of punishment does not deter crimes; otherwise death
penalty states would have no murders.

------
billpg
Iran's going to execute someone? It must be Thursday.

~~~
billpg
Downvote me more! I love it!

------
jellicle
Malekpour created porn websites. In particular, he created Persian porn
websites - porn websites targeted at people who read Persian. Porn websites
are against the law in Iran. He's an Iranian citizen. He traveled to Iran.

I strongly disapprove of censorship, particularly censorship of the "death"
kind. But he should perhaps have been a little bit more discerning about his
travel plans. This anti-porn thing is not new or unexpected. What did he think
would happen?

~~~
shin_lao
So you're saying it's his fault if he's going to get executed?

Next time you break the law and you get fined for it, I truly hope you will
not complain because I'll teleport right next to you and say "what did you
think would happen?".

And we'll have a good laugh about it, because you will not die.

~~~
bwarp
I think the OP is saying "don't fuck with the government or you will end up
gone"

