Iran's supreme court has quashed the death sentence for Saeed Malekpour, a web programmer who was facing execution on charges of developing and promoting porn websites.
The 35-year-old was convicted of designing and moderating adult materials online although his family said he was a web programmer whose photo uploading software was used by a porn website without his knowledge.
Defence lawyers said the conviction was quashed after they provided the court with expert evidence. Malekpour, a Canadian resident who was arrested in October 2008 on arrival in Tehran, will remain in jail while a judicial review into his case is held.
Speaking from Toronto, his wife, Fatima Eftekhari, said: "This a sigh of relief for me, I'm very pleased that his life is finally saved.
"It's unbelievable that someone in this world has spent three years of his life in jail for merely designing software and was until now facing execution for that."
According to Eftekhari, the campaign by human rights groups in support of her husband was crucial in saving Malekpour's life. .
"Never underestimate the power of such campaigns when you can save the life of an innocent somewhere miles away from you by clicking a button or signing a letter," she said.
"I remember that I was collecting signatures in support of my husband and people were reluctant to put their names on the campaign because they were pessimistic that they can save someone else's life by doing so. Now you can see how a signature affects lives."
A year after his arrest, Malekpour was put on state television to confess to his charges. He later retracted the confession in a letter sent from prison in which he said it was made under duress.
Students from some of the Iran's leading universities also wrote to the judges calling for his release.