Famous Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, imprisoned for participation in the 2022 protest movement in Iran, has been released after serving his sentence, the country's courts announced. The 34-year-old singer was arrested in October 2022 after publicly supporting the protests that broke out in September, triggered by the death in detention of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian Kurd arrested by the moral police who accused him of having violated the strict dress code imposed on women in Iran.
He was released in November 2023 but arrested again around ten days later. “Toomaj Salehi, sentenced to one year in prison for propaganda against the political system, was released from prison on Sunday after serving his sentence”said the organ of the judiciary, Mizan, on Sunday evening.
The rapper had supported the protest movement through his songs and on social networks. His defense had said that Mr. Salehi had been accused of“incitement to sedition, assembly, conspiracy, propaganda against the system and call for riots”.
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Other singers targeted by justice
In January, another singer, Mehdi Yarrahi, who had criticized the requirement for women to wear the veil, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison on several charges. The court then transformed this sentence into house arrest, due to the singer's health problems. Popular singer Shervin Hajipour, whose song They stayed had become the anthem of the protest, had been condemned in March for “propaganda activities against the Islamic Republic” et “incitement to riot”.
Several hundred people, including members of the security forces, were killed and thousands arrested during major protests in October and November 2022 in Iran. Ten men were hanged after being convicted in connection with the protest movement following the death of Mahsa Amini.
Toomaj Salehi was sentenced last April to the death penalty for “corruption on Earth”one of the most serious charges in Iran, but the supreme court overturned this conviction in June.
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