Saeed Malekpour's Sister Calls for His Release

The sister of Saeed Malekpour, an Iranian-Canadian citizen imprisoned in Iran, expressed hope for her brother's release after seven and a half years in prison during an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran on Wednesday. Maryam Malekpour stated that her brother has not had a single day of leave during this time and has been deprived of in-person visits with family for some weeks and months. Saeed Malekpour, a 39-year-old Iranian-Canadian, was arrested in 2008 while visiting relatives in Iran, according to his family. He was sentenced to death in 2010 for 'insulting sacred beliefs' by operating and managing 'pornographic' websites, a sentence that was later commuted to life imprisonment after being confirmed by the Supreme Court. A few months after his arrest, Saeed made a 'televised confession' stating that he had established 'immoral' websites in Canada with the support of an American company, but later retracted these confessions in court, claiming he was forced to confess under pressure and torture. Maryam Malekpour mentioned that she recently wrote a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau requesting her brother's release as well as that of Mustafa Azizi, another Iranian-Canadian citizen imprisoned in Iran, but has yet to receive a response. She added, 'Mr. Trudeau often states that human rights are a priority for him, so in my letter, I asked him to pursue my brother's release if he cares about human rights and wants to engage with Iran. Saeed is innocent; there is no evidence of his crimes in his case, and he has been unjustly imprisoned for seven and a half years.' Mustafa Azizi, a writer and producer with Canadian citizenship, was also arrested by security forces shortly after returning to Iran in 2015 and has been imprisoned since. He was sentenced to eight years in prison for 'actions against national security, conspiracy against the state, and insulting the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.' Azizi's family recently reported on his poor physical condition in prison. Over the past year, PEN International, PEN Canada, and Amnesty International have separately called on Iranian authorities for Azizi's release. Five American citizens, including Jason Rezaian, a journalist for the Washington Post, were released from prison and returned to the U.S. on Sunday. Siamak Namazi, another Iranian-American citizen, remains imprisoned in Iran three months after his arrest, with no updates on his case.