Update: Saeed Malekpour escaped Iran while on furlough from prison and has returned safely to Canada.

In 2008 Saeed Malekpour, a permanent resident of Canada, was preparing to join a master's program at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. For the last three years, he had been working as a freelance website designer and programmer. He had recently written a utility to ease the uploading of photographs to websites.

That October, he traveled to Iran to visit his sick father. Three days after he arrived, plainclothes officers kidnapped him from Vanak Square in northern Tehran. They took him to a detention center and later Evin Prison, where he was beaten and tortured by a group who told him they were the "Revolutionary Guards Cyber Counterattack" team.

Malekpour was told hisname had been found on software being used on pornography sites. They accused him of managing obscene websites. His later charges included "spreading propaganda against the regime," "insulting Iran's supreme leader and president," "contact with foreigners and opposition groups," and "blasphemy." Malekpour was tortured until he confessed to these crimes, and more.

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A year later, on the day of his father's funeral, these confessions — which he had been told would be kept confidential — were broadcast on Iran's TV networks. His mother suffered a heart attack as a result. In an open letter smuggled out of his prison, Malekpour explained how the confession was extracted:

Most of the time the tortures were performed by a group. While I remained blindfolded and handcuffed, several