Brussels, 21/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton said on Tuesday 21 February that she was extremely “saddened and concerned” by reports that the Iranian software designer, Saïd Malekpour, faces imminent execution. Ashton reiterated her call to the Iranian authorities to review the sentencing of Malekpour and to suspend his execution, and to also review the sentences imposed on two bloggers, Ahmadreza Hashempour and Vahid Asghari. “Civil rights organisations have raised serious concerns over the fairness, transparency and the speed of the court proceedings”, she said, also pointing out that the death penalty imposed on Malekpour “contravenes Iran's international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”.
The supreme court of Iran confirmed at the end of January that Malekpour faced the death penalty, being accused of having managed a pornographic site. According to Amnesty International, he was the victim of fraudulent use of one of his programmes to diffuse pornographic pictures. (CG/transl.jl)