Dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi has been given a death sentence for his involvement in the widespread protests that swept Iran in 2022, according to his lawyer. <\/p>\n
\u201cAn order for the execution of Toomaj Salehi has been issued,\u201d Salehi\u2019s lawyer Amir Raesian tweeted Wednesday. <\/p>\n
The rapper has been detained, held in solitary confinement and was allegedly tortured following his arrest. <\/p>\n
In an unprecedented move, a court in Isfahan reversed the higher Supreme Court\u2019s decision on Salehi\u2019s case on Tuesday, upholding the original verdict of \u201ccorruption on earth\u201d and issued the maximum punishment of death, according to Iranian pro-reform outlets Shargh and Entekhab. <\/p>\n
State media said Salehi\u2019s sentence is subject for reduction by a pardoning committee if he appeals again. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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). <\/p>\n
Another artist, Kurdish-Iranian rapper Saman Yasin, who was also arrested at the height of 2022\u2019s protests in Iran, was transferred to a psychiatric hospital two times in less than a year, according to pro-reform news outlet IranWire. <\/p>\n
A court in Tehran sentenced Yasin to five years in prison, according to group focused on Kurdish human rights, Hengaw. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe strongly condemn Toomaj Salehi\u2019s death sentence and the five-year sentence for Kurdish-Iranian rapper Saman Yasin. We call for their immediate release,\u201d the United States\u2019 Office of the Special Envoy for Iran tweeted. \u201cThese are the latest examples of the regime\u2019s brutal abuse of its own citizens, disregard for human rights, and fear of the democratic change the Iranian people seek.\u201d <\/p>\n
UN experts also demanded Salehi\u2019s release and urged Iranian authorities to reverse the death sentence. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d the experts said. <\/p>\n
Salehi\u2019s political sponsor in Europe, German Member of Parliament Ye-One Rhie, called the death sentence against Salehi \u201cabsurd and inhumane.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is still completely unclear how this verdict came about,\u201d she tweeted Wednesday. \u201cIt 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.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi has been given a death sentence for his involvement in the widespread protests that swept Iran in 2022, according to his lawyer. \u201cAn order for the execution of Toomaj Salehi has been issued,\u201d Salehi\u2019s lawyer Amir Raesian tweeted Wednesday. The rapper has been detained, held in solitary confinement and was allegedly <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2743","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}