Iran condemns two to death over porn sites

Iranian courts have sentenced two people to death for running porn sites, prosecutor-general Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi has been quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.

"Two administrators of porn sites have been sentenced to death in two different (court) branches and (the verdicts) have been sent to the supreme court for confirmation," Dolatabadi said, without naming the two convicts.

Last December, Canada expressed concern over the reported death sentence handed down to an Iranian-born Canadian resident for allegedly designing an adult website.

Saeed Malekpour, 35, was convicted of "designing and moderating adult content websites", "agitation against the regime" in Tehran, and "insulting the sanctity of Islam," according to an online campaign calling for his release.

Malekpour was detained in the Islamic republic after returning in 2008 to visit his ailing father. He was sentenced to death in December.

The Netherlands froze contacts with Tehran after Saturday's hanging of an Iranian-Dutch woman for drug smuggling, having initially been arrested for taking part in anti-government protests.

Iran, China, Saudi Arabia and the US have the highest numbers of executions each year. Adultery, murder, drug trafficking and other major crimes are all punishable by death in the Islamic republic.


/AAP/