Death sentence on porn websites developer upheld by Iran court

Iran’s state media said the supreme court has upheld a death sentence against a web developer convicted of “spreading corruption”.

The semi-official Fars news agency yesterday said blogger Saeed Malekpour was found guilty of promoting pornographic sites. It said the supreme court approved the death sentence handed down by a revolutionary court that deals with security crimes.

Malekpour was reported imprisoned in October 2008 and confessed on Iranian TV that he developed and promoted pornographic websites.

The website gerdab.ir, affiliated with the elite Revolutionary Guard, called Malekpour the head of the biggest Persian- language network of pornographic websites.

Amnesty International says that Malekpour – a resident of Canada arrested during a trip to Iran in 2008 – is alleged to have been tortured while being held in solitary confinement in Tehran’s Evin Prison.