individuals armed with their fists, cables, and batons struck and punched me. At times, they would flog my head and neck. Such mistreatment was aimed at forcing me to write what the interrogators were dictating and to compel me to play a role in front of the camera based on their scenarios. Sometimes, they used extremely painful electrical shock that would paralyze me temporarily. Once in October 2008, the interrogators stripped me while I was blindfolded and threatened to rape me with a bottle of water.

Malekpour, his family, and human rights groups such as Amnesty believe that the Revolutionary Guards found Malekpour's name in the credits of a website that used his photograph upload utility, and targeted him based only on this information. He was kidnapped, imprisoned insolitary confinement, tortured, and humiliated because of his authorship of entirely benign software.

In October 2010 an Iranian court sentenced Saeed to death, in part for the charge of moderating multiple pornographic websites. Following the publication of Malekpour's letter and rising international pressure, the death sentence was put aside, and a new trial ordered. This new trial, according to one of Malekpour's advocates, Maryam Nayeb Yazdi, lasted "a few minutes". It was overseen by the same judge who managed the previous trial. Malekpour was once again denied access to a lawyer, and no new investigation opened. The judge again sentenced Malekpour to death.

In 2014, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, finally commuted Malekpour's death sentence to life in prison.

Last year, Malekpour was transferred to the general ward of Evin