Iranian Rapper Sentenced to Death After Supporting Anti-Regime Protests

Salehi supported, in his songs, the 2022 protests that erupted after the death of young Mahsa Amini in the custody of the moral police after she was arrested for allegedly improperly wearing the mandatory hijab.

Amir Raesian, the rapper’s defense attorney, said he would appeal the death sentence. The legal grace period is 20 days. Iranian authorities have not commented.

Salehi was first arrested in October 2022 after making public statements in support of the protests and was charged with numerous crimes.

He was sentenced in July 2023 to 6 years and three months in prison. He was released on bail on November 18 after the Supreme Court, responding to an appeal, found “defects in the original sentence” and returned the case to a lower court for review and possible retrial.

In January, Isfahan’s Revolutionary Court launched new charges against Salehi in addition to those he had previously been acquitted of, his lawyer said.

The charges he was found guilty of include corruption, armed rebellion, propaganda against the ruling institutions and incitement to revolt.

Through his songs and lyrics, Salehi boldly criticized Iran’s leadership for corruption and repression of dissent.

Following his 2023 conviction, he was released on bail in November, but was re-arrested a few days later on charges of sharing “falsehoods without evidence”, a reference to a video message he posted claiming to be ” tortured’ and pressured by intelligence ministry agents.

Recently, Iranian police have stepped up their presence on the streets to enforce Islamist dress codes for women.

Another artist asked for the death penalty because he could no longer bear the torture of detention

Salehi’s case is not unique. Salman Yasin, another rapper jailed in 2022 after supporting the protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, requested the death penalty from the judiciary in Tehran, “because I can no longer bear the torture of detention”.

Yasin, a vocal critic of the regime in Iran, was arrested on October 2, 2022 and tortured during his detention before being sentenced to death on October 29 in a 15-minute mock trial on charges of ” war against God”.

The Supreme Court later overturned the sentence. Since then, the dissident musician has been held in various Iranian prisons.

In 2022, musician Shervin Hajipour, 25, was arrested in Iran after composing a song from protestors’ tweets.

Photo; YouTube

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