26th April, 2024
By Taiwo Okanlawon
An Iranian court has sentenced an indigenous rapper, Toomaj Salehi, to death for supporting anti-hijab protests.
The rapper has been jailed for more than a year and a half for supporting protests sparked by the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, who died days after she was arrested for wearing an “improper” hijab in 2022.
His attorney Amir Raisian on Wednesday said, “Branch 1 of Isfahan Revolutionary Court… sentenced Toomaj Salehi to death on the charge of corruption on Earth.”
Salehi was arrested in October 2022 after publicly supporting the anti-hijab protests.
The Revolutionary Court had accused Salehi of “assistance in sedition, assembly and collusion, propaganda against the system and calling for riots.”
The Iranian Supreme Court had reviewed the case and issued a ruling to the lower court to “remove the flaws in the sentence.”
According to Raisian, the court had “in an unprecedented move, emphasised its independence and did not implement the Supreme Court’s ruling.”
Raisian said the rapper “will certainly appeal against the sentence.”
This decision has also drawn criticism from United Nations human rights officials.
U.N. human rights officials issued a statement Thursday demanding Salehi’s immediate release and urging Iranian authorities to reverse the sentence.
“Criticism of government policy, including through artistic expression is protected under the rights to freedom of expression and the right to take part in cultural life. It must not be criminalised,” the statement said.