Toomaj Salehi, a prominent Iranian rapper, has been condemned to death by an Iranian revolutionary court for his alleged involvement in the country's 2022-23 unrest, as stated by his lawyer to the Iranian newspaper Sharq on Wednesday.
Salehi's music voiced support for the nationwide protests in Iran that erupted in 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who died in police custody after being arrested for wearing an "improper" hijab.
Initially detained in October 2022 for publicly expressing solidarity with the protests, Salehi was previously sentenced to six years and three months in prison. However, a Supreme Court ruling spared him from the death penalty.
His lawyer, Amir Raisian, informed Sharq that despite the Supreme Court's decision, Branch One of the Revolutionary Court of Isfahan imposed the harshest punishment on Salehi.
The Iranian judiciary has not yet confirmed the sentence, and Salehi has 20 days to lodge an appeal.
"We will definitely appeal this verdict," asserted Salehi's lawyer.
The U.S. Office of the Special Envoy for Iran condemned the sentence, denouncing it as another instance of "the regime’s brutal abuse of its own citizens, disregard for human rights, and fear of the democratic change the Iranian people seek," as stated in a statement shared on X.
