Iranian rap artist Toomaj Salehi has been granted a new trial after being sentenced to death for protesting against the government two years ago.
On Saturday (June 22), MC’s lawyer Amir Raesian shared the news in Farsi on Twitter.
“As expected, the Supreme Court avoided an irreversible judicial error,” the post read, translated into English. “Death Sentence [Toomaj] Violation, according to the appeal decision of the 39th Branch of the Supreme Court, the case will be transferred to the parallel branch for trial.
He continued: “In its detailed ruling, the branch court reiterated, in addition to the violation of the death sentence, that even the previous prison sentence (6 years and 3 months) did not comply with the rules of criminal felonies and violated the provisions of the Penal Code .
De buck de buck de buck buck buck buck buck and s) bud and bud bud and bud bud bud and bud bud bud and bud.
Т/Т— Amir Rasian (@amirreiis) June 22, 2024
In 2022, Iran was plunged into political turmoil due to the suspicious circumstances of Mahesa Amini’s death. The 22-year-old woman was in police custody for not wearing a headscarf when she died. Her death sparked a wave of demonstrations that flouted religious morality laws and authoritarian law enforcement.
As the uprising evolved into a revolt against the abuse of women across Iran, 32-year-old Toomaj Salehi became one of the loudest voices calling out those in power through her music and social media posts. This eventually led to his arrest.
Earlier this year, in April, he was sentenced to death.
The rapper was first arrested in October 2022. All crimes.
In December 2022, the authorities released a video confession in which the artist said: “Music generates violence. I made a mistake and I am deeply sorry. I apologize to you and society for any violence I incited.”
The plea came just weeks after he was sentenced to death in November and before Toomaj Salehi was granted permission to hire a private attorney on Dec. 29.
More than 500,000 supporters signed a petition calling for his release, which was launched before his second arrest last year. During his brief period of freedom, he revealed in a video that he was tortured and held in solitary confinement for 252 days.
