
Execution of web programmer in Iran may be imminent - michaelpinto
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/18/world/meast/iran-programmer-execution/index.html
======
drzaiusapelord
These are the fruits of theocracy, authoritarianism, and ultra-conservatism.
Oh well, I wish people who support Santorum and other theocrats will learn
from this, but they won't. In 10 years I could be hung for writing software
for planned parenthood. The theocracts' favorite stick is execution.

~~~
killedbydeath
The connection between authoritarianism and religion is pretty weak. Most XX
century authoritarian countries which terrorized their citizens where anti-
religious. Take a look at the history of the Soviet Union where hundred of
thousands of people were prosecuted and killed for being religious. Extremes
are dangerous in general.

~~~
gizmo
I don't think that's accurate. Lenin and Stalin were pretty anti-religious. So
was Mussolini. But I can't think of any other authoritarian regimes that were
specifically anti-religious.

Franco wasn't anti-religious. Neither was Hitler. Nor Castro. Nor any of the
dictators in the African countries. We've had lots and lots of dictators and
totalitarian regimes, few of which were anti-religious.

~~~
DanBC
Stalin managed to kill quite a few million people, so that's one important
anti-religious figure if you're using (crass) "kill-count" as a statistic.

Also, Mao Zedong was anti-religious, and is estimated to have killed between
40M and 70M.

> _Nor any of the dictators in the African countries._

Well, yes, there are horrific genocides and mass murders and atrocities in
Africa supposedly in the name of religion.

I agree that evil is done by both atheists and believers.

------
frisco
Throughout this case, I've felt like the charges are just a pretext. They
wanted to get this guy for something, and they used this as a justification. I
find it really hard to believe that someone in the Iranian Justice Department-
equivalent was looking for porn sites and checking out the source code.

There must be something else going on here; this is just misdirection.

~~~
mrleinad
That's another point of view. It may be the case this is just another part of
the media campaign against Iran, created to demonize them, and justify the
upcoming war.

~~~
tanoku
That's offensive. That's a ridiculous accusation charged with incredible
amounts of political bias which trivializes on the _life_ of another human
being. You should be ashamed.

~~~
mrleinad
I'm not trivializing his life! I don't deny the fact that he's going to be
killed over a stupid thing, and that the Iran regime should be ashamed for
that. I sincerely hope this could be stopped somehow.

But still, there is a media campaign against Iran which I think no one can
deny, and the fact that this story surfaces now, well, makes me think. That's
all.

~~~
srl
I have to (partially) agree with you. Iran executes people for the most B.S.
of reasons all the time, and we rarely hear about it, and we certainly don't
get as much of it as we've been getting of this guy.

That's not to say that this guy isn't actually facing a death sentence, or
that his life is somehow worth less because [[typical convoluted reasoning to
support such statements]]. But these stories (and similar others) may be more
interesting as an indicator of relations between the west and Iran than of the
internals of Iranian politics.

~~~
mrleinad
Thank you. At least someone gets the point.

------
mrleinad
I'll repeat my comment on another thread with the same topic: How about
flooding Twitter with mentions to @chavezcandanga (President Hugo Chavez, from
Venezuela), asking him to ask the Iranian president to do something about
this? They're very close, and his twitter account is really active. I tweeted
him a similar link a while ago, but some mass action is required.

------
ajays
Persia was such a wonderful and open culture at one time. It breaks my heart
to see such brutality in the name of religion.

I wish I could appeal to the Persian people and their proud history, and tell
them that incidents such as this will go down as dark blotches in their
history.

~~~
sliverstorm
_incidents such as this will go down as dark blotches in their history_

Not necessarily. The victors write the history books you know, so if they
manage to come out on top it will go down as their crowning moment of glory.

~~~
bilbo0s
Even if they lose they could come out on top.

Victors write history, but the vanquished ...

if they are crafty ...

write legends.

And then you are in REAL trouble.

The crucifixion of the Christ was only the first step in Christianity's
eventual conquest of Rome.

------
michaelpinto
"A computer programmer from Canada faces imminent execution in Iran for the
actions of another person, which he had no control over, a human rights group
says. Saeed Malekpour wrote a program to upload photos to the Internet, an
accomplishment that could cost him his life, Amnesty International reported
Friday. Authorities in the Islamic Republic claimed his program was used by
someone else to upload pornography and charged him with "insulting and
desecrating Islam.""

------
mvanveen
As a teenager, I helped create a photo sharing site. I am just as guilty as
Saeed Malekpour. Software engineers don't deserve to be killed just because of
the ways in which people use their software. Technology, by itself, is not
good or evil.

------
evolve2k
Is there a link to a more tangible 'take action' page?

------
jimfl
Human beings are the worst sort of people.

------
tomjen3
And the worst thing is that there is nothing we can do about it. Stupid,
ignorant, malignant people will win and those in the right will loose.

And people wonder why I am an atheist... To hell with this world.

~~~
Deestan
That's not what atheism means. Do us all a favour and stop calling yourself
one.

