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This is the first time that netizens have been sentenced to death. On January 29, 2012, the IranianFarsnews agency, with close ties to the Guardians of the Revolution, confirmed the sentencing to death of Web developer Saeed Malekpour, a permanent resident of Canada, for “anti-government agitation” and “insulting Islam.”

In early 2012, Iran’s Supreme Court also confirmed the death sentence for IT student Vahid Asghariand website administrator Ahmadreza Hashempour. The Revolutionary Court’s Fifteenth Chamber informed Web developer and humorist Mehdi Alizadeh that he had been sentenced to death.

These four netizens, who are between 25 and 40, are victims of a plot orchestrated by the Center for the Surveillance of Organized Crime, an entity created illegally in 2008 by the Revolutionary Guards. Under torture, the accused admitted having links with websites that criticize Islam and the Iranian government, and to having intended to “mislead” Iranian youth by distributing pornographic content. They were also forced to confess to participating in a plot backed by the United States and Israel.