.-') _ .-') _ | |
( OO ) ) ( OO ) ) | |
.-----. ,--./ ,--,' ,--./ ,--,' | |
' .--./ | \ | |\ | \ | |\ | |
| |('-. | \| | )| \| | ) | |
/_) |OO )| . |/ | . |/ | |
|| |`-'| | |\ | | |\ | | |
(_' '--'\ | | \ | | | \ | | |
`-----' `--' `--' `--' `--' | |
lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
/ | |
Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi sentenced to death for protesting | |
By Artemis Moshtaghian, CNN | |
Updated: | |
4:00 PM EDT, Sat May 4, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
Dissident rapper has been given a death sentence for his involvement in | |
the widespread protests that swept Iran in 2022, according to his | |
lawyer. | |
“An order for the execution of Toomaj Salehi has been issued,” | |
Salehi’s lawyer Amir Raesian tweeted Wednesday. | |
The rapper has been detained, held in solitary confinement and was | |
allegedly tortured following his arrest. | |
In an unprecedented move, a court in Isfahan reversed the higher | |
Supreme Court’s decision on Salehi’s case on Tuesday, upholding the | |
original verdict of “corruption on earth” and issued the maximum | |
punishment of death, according to Iranian pro-reform outlets Shargh and | |
Entekhab. | |
State media said Salehi’s sentence is subject for reduction by a | |
pardoning committee if he appeals again. | |
Salehi, 32, who has been critical of the Iranian regime and outspoken | |
against the government in rap lyrics and on social media, was briefly | |
released from prison last year before police violently rearrested him | |
and sent him to prison in Isfahan, witnesses said at the time. | |
He was rearrested after appearing in a video where he revealed that he | |
was tortured and placed in solitary confinement for 252 days following | |
his arrest in October 2022, UN experts said in a statement published by | |
the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). | |
Another artist, Kurdish-Iranian rapper Saman Yasin, who was also | |
arrested at the height of 2022’s protests in Iran, was transferred to | |
a psychiatric hospital two times in less than a year, according to | |
pro-reform news outlet IranWire. | |
A court in Tehran sentenced Yasin to five years in prison, according to | |
group focused on Kurdish human rights, Hengaw. | |
Demonstrations swept the country after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa | |
Amini, which occurred under suspicious circumstances while in police | |
custody. A brutal crackdown on the protests by Iranian authorities | |
targeted the weeks-long protests. | |
“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,” the United States’ Office of the Special | |
Envoy for Iran tweeted. “These are the latest examples of the | |
regime’s brutal abuse of its own citizens, disregard for human | |
rights, and fear of the democratic change the Iranian people seek.” | |
UN experts also demanded Salehi’s release and urged Iranian | |
authorities to reverse the death sentence. | |
“We are alarmed by the imposition of the death sentence and the | |
alleged ill-treatment of Mr. Salehi which appears to be related solely | |
to the exercise of his right to freedom of artistic expression and | |
creativity,” the experts said. | |
Salehi’s political sponsor in Europe, German Member of Parliament | |
Ye-One Rhie, called the death sentence against Salehi “absurd and | |
inhumane.” | |
“It is still completely unclear how this verdict came about,” she | |
tweeted Wednesday. “It is unbelievable how irresponsibly and | |
arbitrarily the Iranian regime treats defendants. It is impossible to | |
recognize the rule of law in the chaos of the courts in charge.” | |
<- back to index |