Iranian rapper sentenced to death for supporting demonstrations

The Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi has been sentenced to death after supporting the protest movement in Iran.

Wednesday 24 April at 17:38

The short version

• Rapper Toomaj Salehi was among thousands of young Iranians who protested after Mahsa Amini (22) died in the custody of the morality police.
• In 2022, he was arrested for criticizing the Iranian regime.
• Now he has been sentenced to death, but the sentence will be appealed, says his lawyer.

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His lawyer, Amir Raisian, told the reform-friendly newspaper Shargh, according to the Reuters news agency.

The rapper was arrested in October 2022 after criticizing the regime and showing support for the demonstrators protesting against the clergy and the oppression of women.

His lawyer emphasizes that the sentence will be appealed, which must happen within 20 days. The sentence had not yet been confirmed by the Iranian judiciary on Wednesday afternoon.

Critical texts

The rapper was among thousands of young Iranians who protested against the Iranian authorities’ treatment of women after Mahsa Amini (22) died in the custody of the morality police. She was arrested as a result of wearing the wrong headgear.

Salehi has written a number of critical texts against the regime and is a well-known man both in Iran and in the Iranian exile community. He was among the first artists to express support for the protests.

– He just wanted to be the voice of the people, his uncle Eghbal Eghbali told the TT news agency after his arrest.

Prison sentence

Iran’s Supreme Court has previously sentenced Salehi to six years and three months in prison, although the prosecution wanted the death penalty.

For a period he was released on bail, and during the twelve days in freedom he told about extensive torture while he had been locked up.

He was then arrested again, and on Wednesday it was reported that a revolutionary court has sentenced him to death for waging “war against God” as well as “spreading corruption in the world”, according to opposition-friendly Iranian media.

Salehi’s lawyer says it is completely unusual for a revolutionary court not to respect a previous Supreme Court verdict.

Last summer, exiles gathered in Oslo to mark their support for Salehi. The organizations Safemuse and Freemuse, which fight for artistic freedom, sent a letter to the Norwegian government in 2022 asking the Norwegian authorities to try to get the rapper released.