Source: Robert DEYRAIL/Getty
One Iranian court issued a death sentence to a popular rapper who was jailed for over a year after supporting nationwide protests.
On Wednesday (April 24), Rapper Toomaj Salehi has been sentenced to death by a court in Iran for his support of the protests that swept the country two years ago, according to his lawyer. “Section 1 of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court … sentenced Toomaj Salehi to death on charges of corruption in the Land,” said Salem's lawyer, Amir Raisian, adding that “in an unprecedented move, he emphasized his independence and did not apply the decision of the Supreme Court”. . Salehi had been imprisoned in Isfahan in solitary confinement after violent behavior was arrested again by Iranian police last year for 252 days, according to a report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The rapper has been a vocal critic of the Revolutionary Government in the past and was initially arrested in October 2022 for “aiding insurrection, assembly and collusion, anti-establishment propaganda and calling for riots” after protesting the death in police custody. Mahsa Amini last month. Amini, 22, was an Iranian Kurd who had been detained for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic's strict dress code for women. Raisian stated that “We will definitely appeal the sentence.” Iran's state media reported that Salehi's sentence would be subject to a reduction by a pardon commission following an appeal. Kurdish-Iranian rapper Saman Yasin was also arrested by Iranian police and sentenced to prison following the protests.
The news caused many expressions of outrage. “We strongly condemn the death sentence of Toomaj Salehi and the five-year sentence for Kurdish-Iranian rapper Saman Yasin. We demand their immediate release,” the Office of the United States Special Envoy for Iran said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “These are the latest examples of the regime's brutal abuse of its citizens, disregard for human rights and fear of the democratic change sought by the Iranian people.”
Ye-One Rhie, a member of the German parliament and Salehi's sponsor, also called for Salehi's release. “It's still completely unclear how this verdict was arrived at,” he posted to X on Wednesday. “It is unbelievable how irresponsibly and arbitrarily the Iranian regime treats the accused. It is impossible to recognize the rule of law in the chaos of competent courts.”
