Saeed Malekpour, a permanent resident of Canada who had settled in Ontario as a computer programmer, had been living in peace since his arrival to Canada as an immigrant in 2004. While there, he developed a program facilitating the uploading of images to the internet.

In 2008, he was preparing to study for a master’s degree in British Columbia. But in October of that year, he took what was meant to be a fairly brief trip back to Iran; his father was dying, and he wanted to be there. He would not return to Canada for more than ten years.

Shortly after his arrival, Saeed was kidnapped on the streets of Tehran by officers in plain clothes. Iran still considered him a subject of their regime, and he was accused of designing and operating an online platform for pornography; apparently, some users had utilized the program he developed for this purpose without Saeed’s knowledge.

In the ensuing ordeal, Saeed was subjected to physical and psychological torture as authorities attempted to extract information from him.

“I got a call from somebody who didn’t introduce himself. He said ‘if you want to know about your husband come to this address.’ When I reached it they held me for four hours, interrogated me, insulted me, screamed at me and treated me like a criminal. I was panicked … I just kept thinking I would never see my husband or parents again.” - Fatima Eftekhari, Saeed’s wife, on arriving in Tehran a few weeks after her husband’s kidnapping 

“While I remained blindfolded and handcuffed, several individuals armed with their fists, cables, and batons struck and punched me. At times, they would flog my head and neck … Sometimes, they used extremely painful electrical shock that would paralyze me temporarily.” - Saeed Malekpour

“The physical tortures were nothing compared to the psychological torments. I endured long solitary confinement (totalling more than one year), constant threats to arrest and torture my wife and family if I did not cooperate, threats to kill me.” - Saeed Malekpour

Ultimately, Saeed was charged with several offenses, including blasphemy and the dissemination of pornography; a confession extracted under torture and “false promises of immediate release”—which Saeed later recanted—was broadcast on television in 2009. He was sentenced to death. In the following decade, while he languished in prison, his sister and mother lobbied unsuccessfully for his pardon and release. Appeal attempts were fruitless. Only one tiny glimmer of good fortune arrived in 2013: Saeed reportedly “repented and showed remorse,” and his sentence was reduced to mere life imprisonment.

“Saeed always tells us that he feels good. But we aren’t so sure. Someone who has spent seven continuous years in prison cannot be feeling good. He says he exercises and reads books and he did some woodcarving while he was inside Ward 7. He says he does these things so that he won’t lose hope.” - Maryam Malekpour, Saeed’s sister

In 2019, the tide actually turned in Saeed’s case. Iran came under heavy international pressure to temporarily release Saeed on furlough, and they did. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he managed, through undisclosed means, to escape Iran and return to Canada. After 11 years of unjust detention, he regained his freedom.

“The nightmare is finally over! Together we prevailed.” - Maryam Malekpour