Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, who gained fame for his lyrics about the death of Mahsa Amini and his criticism of the Islamic Republic, has been sentenced to death, according to his lawyer and rights activists.
Confusion surrounds the death sentence issued against 33-year-old Salehi, as even Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency and its judiciary have not formally confirmed it. However, the news has drawn swift international criticism, with the United States and United Nations experts pointing to it as a sign of Tehran’s ongoing crackdown on dissent following years of mass protests in the country.
“Art must be allowed to criticize, to provoke, to push the boundaries in any society,” a panel of the U.N.’s independent experts on Iran said in a statement Thursday.
News of Salehi’s death sentence first spread Wednesday after a report by Iran’s pro-reform Shargh newspaper, which said he had been sentenced by a Revolutionary Court in Isfahan, a central Iranian city recently targeted by an apparent Israeli attack. Revolutionary Courts in Iran often involve closed-door hearings, secret evidence, and few rights for those on trial.
Salehi’s lawyer, Amir Raisian, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he had received notice of the death sentence against his client and planned to file an appeal.
Salehi’s case stems from Amini’s death in 2022 after her arrest by police for not wearing a hijab to their liking. United Nations investigators say Iran was responsible for Amini’s death and that it violently put down largely peaceful protests in a monthslong security crackdown that killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained.
Salehi rapped about Amini in one video, saying: “Someone’s crime was dancing with her hair in the wind.” In another verse, he predicts the downfall of Iran’s theocracy: “Your whole past is dark, the government that took the light out of the eyes. … We go from the bottom of the pyramid and knock to the top. … Forty-four years of your government, this is the year of failure.”
His other songs vulgarly criticized the all-volunteer Basij wing of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and referenced Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Salehi initially received a six-year prison sentence but was released after Iran’s Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower court over flaws in his original sentence. Salehi was released on bail but was arrested again in November after saying in a video message that he was tortured after his arrest in October 2022. State media at the time released a video showing him blindfolded and apologizing for his words, a statement likely made under duress.
Iran’s judiciary has not acknowledged the death sentence, while IRNA referred to “reports” that he received it. To have a death sentence issued on a reversal of a lesser sentence is highly unusual in Iran, possibly signifying how seriously Iran’s theocracy has taken Salehi’s remarks.
The sentencing comes as other journalists, activists, and musicians have been targeted since the “Women, Life, Freedom” demonstrations over Amini. An Iranian singer who won a Grammy presented by U.S. first lady Jill Biden was sentenced to more than three years in prison over his anthem supporting the 2022 protests.
Activists immediately criticized Salehi’s death sentence. “This grotesque manipulation of the judicial process aims to silence dissent,” said Hadi Ghaemi of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran. “Toomaj’s imprisonment stems from his vocal advocacy against state oppression. It is imperative that supporters of free speech and dissent unite to demand his immediate release.”
The sentencing also drew criticism from Washington. “This is just another example of the Iranian regime’s horrific and pervasive human rights abuses,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said Wednesday. “We once again condemn the Iranian regime’s … use of the death sentence as a tool to suppress people’s human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
