An Iranian revolutionary court has sentenced well-known Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi to death on charges linked to the 2022-23 unrest in Iran, his lawyer told Iranian newspaper Sharq on Wednesday.
In his songs, Salehi supported months of protests in Iran in 2021, triggered by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman arrested for allegedly wearing an “inappropriate” hijab.
Salehi was initially arrested in October 2022 after making public statements in support of nationwide protests.
He was sentenced in 2023 to six years and three months in prison, but avoided a death sentence due to a Supreme Court ruling.
“Section One of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court, in an unprecedented move, did not apply the Supreme Court’s ruling….and sentenced Salehi to the harshest penalty,” his lawyer Amir Raisian told Sharq.
The Iranian judiciary has not yet confirmed the sentence. Salehi has 20 days to appeal the decision.
“We will certainly appeal this sentence,” said the lawyer.
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Tags: Iran sentences rapper Toomaj Salehi death protests lawyer tells newspaper
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