Iran commutes death sentence of web programmer: Lawyer

TEHRAN - Agence France-Presse

Iran has commuted to life in prison the death sentence of a computer programmer convicted for allegedly designing a pornographic website in 2010, his lawyer told Mehr news agency Monday.

Saeed Malekpour, a permanent resident of Canada, was arrested in December 2008 in Iran when he returned to his native land to visit his dying father and accused of operating a pornographic website.

 "He repented, blocking implementation of the death sentence, and it has been commuted to life in prison," lawyer Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabee said.

 According to human rights groups and his family, the 37-year-old was found guilty in December 2010 on three counts, including "designing and moderating adult content websites" "and "insulting the sanctity of Islam." The judiciary suspended the sentence last December. Amnesty International said one of the web designer's programmes was used without his knowledge to publish pornographic images. Canada, the United States, France and the European Union protested against the death sentence.