It is a revolutionary court in the Iranian city of Isfahan that sentenced the 33-year-old artist to the death penalty, Reuters reports, referring to an interview with Salehi’s defenders published in local, regime-critical media.
Rapper Toomaj Salehi was arrested in October 2022 by the Iranian regime’s security forces. Salehi, known for his regime-critical texts and as a vocal supporter of the nationwide protests that took place in the country after the death of activist Mahsa Amini, was arrested according to prosecutors for his “central role” in the protests.
A few days later, a clip was published on Iranian state television in which Salehi said he had made “a mistake”. The recognition was dismissed by human rights organizations as coerced.
In July 2023, he was sentenced to six years in prison for “worldwide corruption”, a crime punishable by death. But in November of that year, a little more than a year after his arrest, he was released on bail after the country’s highest court ruled that there were flaws in the verdict and thus remanded the case back to lower courts.
After he published a new video in which he said he was tortured in prison, he was arrested again less than two weeks after his release.
“In an unprecedented procedure, Branch 1 of Isfahan’s Revolutionary Court did not implement the Supreme Court’s decision (…) and sentenced Salehi to the harshest punishment,” says defense attorney Amir Raisin to the newspaper SharghDaily, Reuters writes in connection with the death sentence.
Iranian authorities have not yet confirmed it. Salehi has 20 days to appeal, which his lawyers say they will do.
It was on September 16, 2022 that the protests following the death of Mahsa Jina Amini broke out. She had been arrested a few days earlier by the Iranian regime for violating the country’s dress code. Shortly afterwards, she died in the custody of the morality police.
In the following weeks, according to Human Rights Watch, hundreds of protesters were killed and thousands were arrested as a result of the protests.
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