Toomaj Salehi, an Iranian rap artist, has been sentenced to death in Iran, according to his lawyer.
Salehi, who has first arrested on 31 October 2022, was subjected to torture and ill treatment, including prolonged solitary confinement, Amnesty International said on social media platform X.
The musician has been critical of the Iranian regime and outspoken in his support for the nationwide Jin, Jiyan, Azadi (Woman, Life, Freedom) movement and protests in the country. His family said that he had been arrested previously after he was accused of “corruption on Earth”.
On Tuesday, a court overturned the Iranian Supreme Court’s prior verdict on Salehi’s case and issued him with the maximum punishment, a death sentence.
Salehi had been briefly released from prison last year, but re-arrested after appearing in a video where he documented his 252 days of solitary confinement.
Another rap artist, Saman Yasin, has been sentenced to five years in prison. In a tweet, the United States’ Office of the Special Envoy for Iran said, “We strongly condemn Toomaj Salehi’s death sentence and the five-year sentence for Kurdish-Iranian rapper Saman Yasin. We call for their immediate release.”
Jina Amini’s death on 16 September 2022 triggered a wave of protests across Iran that the government has been unable to suppress despite violent crackdowns. The 22-year-old Kurdish woman died after being beaten during her arrest by the country’s morality police.