- A popular rapper in Iran has reportedly been sentenced to death, his lawyer said on Thursday.
- Toumaz Salehi was recently sentenced to death by a revolutionary court in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, the target of an apparent Israeli attack.
- Revolutionary courts in Iran often involve closed-door hearings, secret testimony, and few rights for those prosecuted.
a rapper in Iran The man who rose to fame with his songs about Mahsa Amini’s death in 2022 and criticism of the Islamic Republic has been sentenced to death, his lawyer and rights activists said on Thursday.
There is still confusion over the death sentence issued against Toumaz Salehi, a 33-year-old metal shop worker, as Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency and its judiciary have not formally confirmed it. But the news was immediately criticized internationally by the United States and UN experts, who called it a sign of Tehran’s continued crackdown against all dissent after years of mass protests in the country.
“Art must be allowed to criticize, to incite, to push boundaries in any society,” a panel of independent UN experts on Iran said in a statement on Thursday.
Iran sentences popular rapper to 6 years in prison for joining protests
Word first spread on Wednesday when a report in Iran’s pro-reform Shargh newspaper said Salehi had been sentenced to death by a revolutionary court in Isfahan, a central Iranian city recently hit by an apparent massacre. The person had targeted. israeli attack, Revolutionary courts in Iran often involve closed-door hearings, secret testimony, and few rights for those prosecuted.
A protester holds a photo of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini on October 2, 2022. A rapper in Iran who became famous for his songs about the death of Mahsa Amini and criticism of the Islamic Republic in 2022 has been sentenced to death, his lawyer and his rights have been overruled. Activists said on Thursday. (Bulent Kilic/AFP via Getty Images)
Salehi’s lawyer, Amir Raisian, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he had received a death penalty notice against his client. Raisian said he planned to file an appeal.
Salehi’s case is linked to the death of Amini in 2022 after she was arrested by police for not wearing a hijab as per her choice. UN investigators say Iran was responsible for Amini’s death and that it violently suppressed largely peaceful protests in a months-long security crackdown that left more than 500 people dead and more than 22,000 injured. Was taken into custody.
“One’s crime was dancing with her hair flowing in the wind,” Salehi said of Amini in a video.
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In another poem, he predicts the fall of Iran’s theocracy. “Your entire past is dark, a government that snatches the light from the eyes. … We go from the bottom of the pyramid to the top. … Forty-four years of your government, these are the years of failure.”
His other songs obscenely criticized the all-volunteer Basij wing of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, as well as mentioned Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Salehi initially received a six-year prison sentence, but was released after Iran’s Supreme Court sent the case back to a lower court due to flaws in his original sentence.
Salehi was released on bail, but was arrested again in November after saying in a video message that he had been tortured following his arrest in October 2022. State media at the time released a video in which he was blindfolded and apologizing for his words, likely a statement. under stress.
Iran’s judiciary did not accept the death penalty, while IRNA cited “reports” it had received.
Issuing a death sentence upon overturning a lesser sentence is highly unusual in Iran, possibly reflecting how seriously Iran’s theocracy took Salehi’s comments. This also comes as other journalists, activists and musicians have been targeted following the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests over Amini. An Iranian singer who won a Grammy award presented by US First Lady Jill Biden was sentenced to more than three years in prison for his song supporting 2022 protests.
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Activists immediately criticized the sentence.
“This grotesque manipulation of the judicial process is aimed at silencing dissent,” said Hadi Ghaemi of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran. “Tomasz’s imprisonment stems from his outspoken advocacy against state oppression. It is imperative that supporters of free speech and dissent unite to demand his immediate release.”
The punishment was also criticized from washington,
“This is yet another example of the Iranian regime’s appalling and widespread human rights abuses,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said Wednesday. “We once again condemn the Iranian regime’s … use of the death penalty as a tool to suppress people’s human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
