Iranian Accused of Developing Porn Websites Is Sentenced to Death

Iran has sentenced a 35-year-old web programmer to death for charges of developing and promoting porn websites, according to The Guardian.

Saeed Malekpour -- a permanent Canadian resident -- was arrested in October 2008 after his arrival to Tehran and convicted of designing porn websites.

Malekpour's wife, Fatemeh Eftekhari, tells the paper her husband has been moved to solitary confinement to wait out his sentencing. She says he wrote photo uploading software that was used by a porn website without his knowledge.

"Even if my husband's charges were true, which they are not, it's hard to imagine why he should be sentenced to death. I think Iran is trying to intimidate the opposition or any sign of protest by sentencing an unprecedented numbers of prisoners to death," Eftekhari told The Guardian.

A year after his arrest, Malekpour was forced to confess on Iran's state TV. He later retracted the confession, saying it was under duress, according to the paper.

Amnesty International in Canada is calling for Malekpour to be commuted.

"Amnesty International is very concerned that Saeed Malekpour is facing a death sentence in Iran after an unfair trial and reports that he was tortured in order to confess to his crimes," spokeswoman Gloria Nafziger told the paper.

Last month, Iran executed a Dutch-Iranian woman for drug smuggling.

Click for more about Iran's death sentence from The Guardian.