PM urged to fight for Iranian prisoner
In wake of Hoodfar victory, Saeed Malekpour’s family appeals to Trudeau for help
News that ailing Montreal academic Homa Hoodfar was released from prison in Iran and is on her way back to Canada prompted rejoicing and plaudits for the Liberal government this week.
The end of Hoodfar’s six-month ordeal at the hands of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard reportedly came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau personally appealed to Iranian ally Oman, and Italy and Switzerland lent Canada diplomatic advice to free her. Minister of Foreign Affairs Stéphane Dion also met with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Missing from the vigorous diplomatic efforts was Saeed Malekpour, a Canadian permanent resident who has endured eight years of physical and psychological punishment in Evin prison, where Montreal photojournalist Zahra Kazemi died after torture in 2003.
Malekpour, an engineer who lived in Victoria, B.C., immigrated to Canada in 2004. He was arrested in 2008 while visiting his fatally ill father in Tehran. Tortured and subjected to secretive, unfair trials, he was twice sentenced to death on charges of managing a pornographic website at the direction of western countries plotting to corrupt the morals of Iranians. But the sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment.
“Although my brother is no longer on death row, he is living out a slow death sentence,” said his sister, Maryam Malekpour.
In a statement to mark the eighth anniversary of his arrest on Oct. 4, she said, “I’m heartbroken that Minister Dion has refused to help Saeed, despite my numerous calls for assistance. (His) view is that because Saeed is only a permanent resident, there’s nothing Canada’s government can do to help.”
Dion’s spokeswoman, Chantal Gagnon, said in an email, “We remain seriously concerned with the situation of Mr. Malekpour and are in contact with his family. The challenges posed by the absence of Canada’s diplomatic presence in Iran greatly limit our ability to provide support in such cases. Due to the Privacy Act, we are unable to provide further details.”
Iran does not recognize Canadian dual citizenship, and denies consular access to any Iranian-born expatriate. It views all those who immigrate to the West as suspicious.
Canada’s tensions with Iran appear to be easing, and restoration of relations coming closer with the recent diplomatic round. But, ironically, action by Ottawa aided Malekpour at one of the lowest points in Canada- Iran relations, months before prime minister Stephen Harper closed the Canadian embassy in Tehran and expelled Iranian diplomats from Canada.
In February 2012, when Malekpour’s execution appeared imminent, the Tories backed a rare unanimous motion in the House of Commons to hold the Iranian authorities accountable if he were killed.
“I was very happy about Justin Trudeau’s win,” said Maryam Malekpour. “But I feel that the new government is not taking into consideration what Saeed has been through and all the previous statements and actions which helped to get his two death sentences quashed.”
In April, Mosfafa Azizi, also a Canadian permanent resident arrested in Iran and sentenced to eight years on espionage-related charges, was released. But Malekpour’s pleas for freedom, and for furlough from prison, which is granted to some Iranian prisoners, were rejected.
Although not politically active before his arrest, Malekpour was targeted by the Revolutionary Guard at a time when they were ramping up their battle to suppress an explosion of Internet use in Iran.
In advance of a volatile presidential election, his case became a warning to young Iranians who might use social media to defy the clerical regime. As an immigrant to Canada who worked as a web programmer, Malekpour was doubly at risk.
“Arresting a coder living in the West and accusing them of being a foreign spy . . . was intended to paint the Net as a channel for corrupt western influence and to demonstrate that no one, not even (those) living in a foreign country, could escape punishment,” said the San Francisco-based digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation. It has launched an online campaign for Malekpour, urging Trudeau to fight for his release.
Mohamed Fahmy, a former political prisoner in Egypt and head of a foundation to defend the rights of journalists and prisoners of conscience, said in an email, “I urge Prime Minister Trudeau to live up to his renowned global reputation as a humanist and fight for Saeed Malekpour’s life.”
Maryam Malekpour continues to plead for the government to take up his case. “My brother’s link to Canada was used to abuse him and spread fear among Iranian civil society. I am heartbroken and distraught over the silence of the Canadian authorities.”