News

Reports that Iran has suspended the death sentence of Canadian Saeed Malekpour have not been officially confirmed, and his family remain concerned for his fate, an activist close to the family says.

The lawyer for Mr. Malekpour, on death row since 2010, has told Iran’s Mehr new agency that the sentence has been commuted after he “repented,” Agence France-Presse reported.

But in Canada, those campaigning for his release remain skeptical, noting that Iranian officials have in the past reinstituted death sentences they had supposedly commuted.

"The family will not be speaking. It has not been confirmed," said Maryam Nayeb Yazdi, an activist working with Mr. Malekpour’s family for his release. “No official documents from the judiciary have been issued.”