ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An Iranian court issued a death sentence for a popular rapper imprisoned over backing the nationwide protest movement sparked by the death of Kurdish woman Zhina (Mahsa) Amini nearly two years ago, local media reported on Wednesday.
Toomaj Salehi, 33, is a well-known rapper in Tehran and was arrested in October 2022 by Iranian security forces. Outlets affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at the time described him as “one of the leaders of the riots,” saying he was caught “while trying to flee in the western border region.”
The Isfahan Revolutionary Court “sentenced Toomaj Salehi to the severest punishment of death on charges of corruption on earth,” Salehi’s lawyer Amir Raisian told Iran’s reformist Shargh Daily newspaper.
“The Isfahan Revolutionary Court considered the accusations of aiding in sedition, assembly and collusion, propagating against the system and calling for riots … to be among the examples of corruption, and with emphasis on asserting the extent of the corruption has issued the death sentence for Salehi,” Raisian said, adding that the court’s verdict has “obvious legal conflicts.”
The lawyer said that the Isfahan court “emphasized its independence” and did not agree to implement the Supreme Court’s ruling while issuing the death sentence, and stressed his desire to appeal the decision.
“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,” Raisian said.
Salehi was freed on bail on November 2023, Raisian told Shargh at the time, due to objections found in his original sentencing. He was sent back to prison shortly after.
Amini, 22, died in police custody on September 16, 2022 after being arrested for allegedly wearing a lax hijab. Her death sparked Iran’s largest protest movement in the past four decades, initially calling for greater freedoms for women before turning into a full-blown antigovernment revolution. Hundreds of people were killed and thousands arrested as authorities launched a brutal crackdown on dissent.
The Islamic republic became the subject of heavy international criticism and sanctioning for its repression of the demonstrators.
Toomaj Salehi, 33, is a well-known rapper in Tehran and was arrested in October 2022 by Iranian security forces. Outlets affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at the time described him as “one of the leaders of the riots,” saying he was caught “while trying to flee in the western border region.”
The Isfahan Revolutionary Court “sentenced Toomaj Salehi to the severest punishment of death on charges of corruption on earth,” Salehi’s lawyer Amir Raisian told Iran’s reformist Shargh Daily newspaper.
“The Isfahan Revolutionary Court considered the accusations of aiding in sedition, assembly and collusion, propagating against the system and calling for riots … to be among the examples of corruption, and with emphasis on asserting the extent of the corruption has issued the death sentence for Salehi,” Raisian said, adding that the court’s verdict has “obvious legal conflicts.”
The lawyer said that the Isfahan court “emphasized its independence” and did not agree to implement the Supreme Court’s ruling while issuing the death sentence, and stressed his desire to appeal the decision.
“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,” Raisian said.
Salehi was freed on bail on November 2023, Raisian told Shargh at the time, due to objections found in his original sentencing. He was sent back to prison shortly after.
Amini, 22, died in police custody on September 16, 2022 after being arrested for allegedly wearing a lax hijab. Her death sparked Iran’s largest protest movement in the past four decades, initially calling for greater freedoms for women before turning into a full-blown antigovernment revolution. Hundreds of people were killed and thousands arrested as authorities launched a brutal crackdown on dissent.
The Islamic republic became the subject of heavy international criticism and sanctioning for its repression of the demonstrators.
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