Security forces have renewed the pressure on Saeed Malekpour, the web programmer and Canadian resident whose death sentence was upheld by the Iranian Supreme Court last month, to make a televised confession, his sister Maryam Malekpour told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
“[Security forces] have even threatened him that they would arrest me,” his sister said. “They told him, ‘Say you’re remorseful on TV, and we will help you.’”
Since the death sentence was upheld on 30 January 2012, “[Saeed] has been pressured to make confessions before a television camera, which he has fortunately not accepted,” Maryam Malekpour told the Campaign.
Maryam Malekpour continued, “The fact that they have been putting him under pressure for a television interview over the past two weeks shows that they have no evidence other than his confessions for justifying his death sentence. They want to justify their legitimacy this way. Saeed is innocent. He was a gifted student at Sharif University; his [entrance exam] ranking was 23rd in the College of Material Science Engineering. They want to sacrifice Saeed and others like him for proving a point that is unknown to me. I don’t know what to say; I don’t understand it. Saeed is a victim of a political game.”
Maryam Malekpour objected to the Supreme Court’s upholding her brother’s death sentence and told the Campaign that none of the deficiencies and problems with Malekpour… >>>
