The online campaign for freedom

Iran has dispatched hundreds of police and security agents to counter the growing social media movement. But human rights activists believe it’s their most powerful tool.

For Saeed Malekpour’s 40th birthday they launched a new campaign to free him — with petitions, celebrity pleas and tweet storms aimed at Iran’s top leader, Ali Khamenei, who commuted his sentence from death by hanging to life imprisonment.

They have little faith in Canadian diplomacy to advance Malekpour’s cause. Relations between the two countries have only worsened since the violent death of Montreal photojournalist Zahra Kazemi in Evin Pris- on, and the closure of Ottawa’s embassy in Tehran.

NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar took on Malekpour’s case in Parliament, writing in the National Post that “the Iranian authorities have used censorship and criminalization to prevent Iranian civilians from expressing themselves, and they have imprisoned and abused Saeed for enabling others to do so. Now that Saeed is silenced, we must speak on his behalf.”

“We know that the only evidence presented against Saeed in court is his forced confessions,” says Maryam Nayeb Yazdi, who spearheads the human rights blog Per- sian2English. “Holding him in prison on a life sentence is unfounded. Each day Saeed is forced to spend in prison is an injustice.”

“I and my family only want Saeed released,” says his sister, Maryam Malekpour. “Saeed is a victim who has been in jail for seven years of his life. He was tortured to provide the only evidence they have against him. We just want him back so we can be left alone to live our lives.”

Supporters can join the campaign at #LifesNotFair and #HBDSaeed, and turn to the Facebook event page for further information, and the Persian 2 English blogpost.