Iranian rapper sentenced to death for inciting anti-government protests

Dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi received a death sentence for his involvement in the widespread protests in Iran in 2022, according to his lawyer.

“An order for the execution of Toomaj Salehi has been issued,” Salehi’s lawyer, Amir Raesian, tweeted on Wednesday (24).

The rapper was detained, held in solitary confinement and allegedly tortured following his arrest.

In an unprecedented move, a court in Isfahan reversed the Supreme Court's ruling on Salehi's case on Tuesday, upholding the original verdict of “corruption in the land” and handed down the maximum punishment of death, according to pro media. -Reform Iranian Shargh and Entekhab.

State media said Salehi's sentence is subject to reduction by a pardon committee if he appeals again.

Salehi, 32, who has criticized the Iranian regime in rap lyrics and on social media, was briefly released from prison last year before police rearrested him and sent him to prison in Isfahan, witnesses said at the time.

He was rearrested after appearing in a video where he revealed he was tortured and placed in solitary confinement for 252 days following his arrest in October 2022, UN experts said in a statement published by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Human Rights (OHCHR).

Another artist, Kurdish-Iranian rapper Saman Yasin, who was also arrested at the height of the 2022 protests in Iran, has been transferred to a psychiatric hospital twice in less than a year, according to pro-reform news agency IranWire.

A court in Tehran sentenced Yasin to five years in prison, according to a group focused on Kurdish human rights, Hengaw.

Demonstrations swept the country following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, which occurred under suspicious circumstances while in police custody. The protests were violently repressed by the police.

“We strongly condemn the death sentence of Toomaj Salehi and the five-year sentence for Kurdish-Iranian rapper Saman Yasin. We call for their immediate release,” the Office of the United States Special Envoy for Iran tweeted. “These are the latest examples of the regime's brutal abuse of its own citizens, disregard for human rights, and fear of democratic change that the Iranian people seek .”

UN experts also demanded Salehi's release and called on Iranian authorities to reverse the death sentence.

“We are alarmed by the imposition of the death sentence and the alleged mistreatment of Mr. Salehi, which appears to be related solely to the exercise of his right to freedom of artistic expression and creativity,” the experts said.

Salehi’s political sponsor in Europe, German MP Ye-One Rhie, called the death sentence against Salehi “absurd and inhumane.”

“It is still not completely clear how this verdict came about,” she tweeted on Wednesday. “The irresponsible and arbitrary way in which the Iranian regime treats the defendants is unbelievable. It is impossible to recognize the rule of law in the chaos of responsible courts.”