YNOT EUROPE – New trials last week resulted in the same verdict for two computer scientists accused of operating pornographic sites in Iran: Both were sentenced to death.

“Two directors of pornographic sites have been sentenced to death by two different courts, and [verdicts] were sent to the Supreme Court for confirmation,” Abbas Jafari Dolatabadin, the country’s attorney general, announced.

Neither the “criminals'” identities nor their residences have been revealed, but it is suspected one of the men is young Iranian-by-birth Saeed Malekpour. Malekpour, a legal resident of Canada, was arrested and charged in Iran while visiting his dying father in 2008. He has denied that he had anything to do with running adult websites.

Nevertheless, Malekpour was judged guilty of “agitation against the Iranian regime … and insults to Islam, having designed and built sites for adults.” Malekpour’s wife has told the media her husband is a programmer who developed software that may have been used to upload pictures to adult websites without his knowledge.

“We are gravely concerned about the flagrant and continuing failure of Iranian authorities to respect human rights in Iran,” said Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon. “It appears that this is another case where someone is sentenced to death in Iran after a dubious trial.”