Prisoner flees Iran while on short-term release

TEHRAN: An Iranian serving a life sentence on a conviction of designing a pornographic website has fled the country while on short-term release from prison, the judiciary said on Saturday.

“This individual was barred from leaving the country and has apparently left... via unofficial channels and has not returned,” said judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili.

The spokesman was responding on state television to reports that Saeed Malekpour had left the country.

“This individual was sentenced to life in jail and had served more than 11 years of his sentence,” Esmaili said, quoted by the judiciary’s official news agency, Mizan Online.

“He was given a three-day furlough on July 20 and by the end of it he did not turn himself in to the prison.”

Malekpour, a permanent resident of Canada, was arrested in December 2008 in Iran when he returned to his native land to visit his dying father. He was accused of operating a pornographic website.

He was initially sentenced to death, but that was commuted to life in prison in August 2013.

According to reports at the time, he had been found guilty on three counts, including “designing and moderating adult content websites” and “insulting the sanctity of Islam”.