A popular rapper in Iran is sentenced to death for supporting protests: Report

Tehran: According to local media on Wednesday, an Iranian court condemned a well-known rapper who had been detained for more than a year and a half to death for encouraging widespread demonstrations in response to Mahsa Amini’s passing.

According to Amir Raisian, the singer’s attorney, “Branch 1 of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court… sentenced Toomaj Salehi to death on the charge of corruption on Earth,” as reported by the left-leaning Shargh daily.

In October 2022, Toomaj Salehi, 33, was taken into custody after he openly supported the protests that had broken out a month earlier following the death of Amini, 22, an Iranian Kurd in detention for allegedly violating the strict dress codes of the Islamic Republic for women.

“We will definitely appeal against the sentence,” the attorney said, adding that the court, “in an unprecedented move, emphasised its independence and did not implement the Supreme Court’s ruling.”

“The Supreme Court, as an appellate authority, had reviewed the case and issued a ruling to the lower court to remove the flaws in the sentence,” he said.

“The lawyer was quoted as stating that there are evident legal conflicts in the court’s verdict.”

“The contradiction with the ruling of the Supreme Court is considered the most important and, at the same time, the strangest part of this ruling.”

Salehi said that he had been charged by the Revolutionary Court with “assistance in sedition, assembly and collusion, propaganda against the system and calling for riots.”.

Following Amini’s murder on September 16, 2022, there were months of turmoil that resulted in thousands of arrests and hundreds of deaths, including dozens of security officers.

The Iranian government called the demonstrations “riots” and said that the foreign enemies of Tehran were behind the disturbances.

In protest-related instances, including killings and other acts of violence against security officers, nine people have been put to death.