Lawyer says Iran rapper well-known for songs after 2022 killing of Mahsa Amini sentenced to loss of life

JERUSALEM — A rapper in Iran who got here to fame over his lyrics in regards to the 2022 loss of life of Mahsa Amini and criticizing the Islamic Republic has been sentenced to loss of life, his lawyer and rights activists mentioned Thursday.

Confusion nonetheless surrounds the loss of life sentence issued in opposition to 33-year-old metallic store employee Toomaj Salehi, as even Iran’s state-run IRNA information company and its judiciary didn’t formally verify it. However the information rapidly drew worldwide criticism from the US and United Nations specialists, who pointed at it as an indication of Tehran’s persevering with crackdown in opposition to all dissent following years of mass protests within the nation.

“Artwork have to be allowed to criticize, to impress, to push the boundaries in any society,” a panel of the U.N.’s impartial specialists on Iran mentioned in an announcement Thursday.

Phrase first unfold Wednesday after a report by Iran’s pro-reform Shargh newspaper mentioned Salehi had been given a loss of life sentence by a Revolutionary Court docket in Isfahan, a central Iranian metropolis just lately focused by an obvious Israeli assault. Revolutionary Courts in Iran usually contain closed-door hearings, secret proof and few rights for these on trial.

Salehi’s lawyer, Amir Raisian, instructed The Related Press on Thursday that he had acquired discover of the loss of life sentence in opposition to his consumer. Raisian mentioned he deliberate to file an enchantment.

Salehi’s case stems from Amini’s loss of life in 2022 after her arrest by police for not carrying a hijab to their liking. United Nations investigators say Iran was accountable for Amini’s loss of life, and that it violently put down largely peaceable protests in a monthslong safety crackdown that killed greater than 500 folks and noticed over 22,000 detained.

Salehi rapped about Amini in a single video, saying: “Somebody’s crime was dancing together with her hair within the wind.”

In one other verse, he predicts the downfall of Iran’s theocracy. “Your complete previous is darkish, the federal government that took the sunshine out of the eyes. … We go from the underside of the pyramid and knock to the highest. … Forty-four years of your authorities, that is the 12 months of failure.”

His different songs vulgarly criticized the all-volunteer Basij wing of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, in addition to referencing Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Salehi initially acquired a six-year jail sentence, however had been launched after Iran’s Supreme Court docket despatched the case again to the decrease court docket over flaws in his unique sentence.

Salehi was launched on bail, however then arrested once more in November after saying in a video message that he was tortured after his arrest in October 2022. State media on the time launched a video exhibiting him blindfolded and apologizing for his phrases, an announcement seemingly made beneath duress.

Iran’s judiciary didn’t acknowledge the loss of life sentence, whereas IRNA referred to “studies” he acquired it.

To have a loss of life sentence issued on a reversal of a lesser sentence is extremely uncommon in Iran, probably signifying simply how critical Iran’s theocracy had taken Salehi’s remarks. It additionally comes as different journalists, activists and musicians have been focused for the reason that “Ladies, Life, Freedom” demonstrations over Amini. An Iranian singer who received a Grammy introduced by U.S. first woman Jill Biden was sentenced to greater than three years in jail over his anthem supporting the 2022 protests,

Activists instantly criticized the sentence.

“This grotesque manipulation of the judicial course of goals to silence dissent,” Hadi Ghaemi of the New York-based Middle for Human Rights in Iran mentioned. “Toomaj’s imprisonment stems from his vocal advocacy in opposition to state oppression. It’s crucial that supporters of free speech and dissent unite to demand his rapid launch.”

The sentencing additionally drew criticism from Washington.

“That is simply one other instance of the Iranian regime’s horrific and pervasive human rights abuses,” State Division spokesperson Vedant Patel mentioned Wednesday. “We as soon as once more condemn the Iranian regime’s … use of the loss of life sentence as a device to suppress folks’s human rights and basic freedoms.”