UPDATED, 7:05 PM: Months after escaping Iran‘s death penalty and seeing all the charges against him dismissed, rapper Toomaj Salehi finally walked out of prison today.
The announcement was made Sunday on the musician’s social media feeds:
A post shared by Toomaj Salehi | توماج صالحی (@toomajofficial)
On the thirtysomething rapper’s post it read, in part: Toomaj Salehi, son of Iran, afters suffering 753 days of cruel, unfair and with reason and legal support ..today …was released from Isfahan Central Prison.”
Handed a death sentence in April for for his involvement in the protests against attacks and killing of women and activists across the theocratic Islamic Republic in 2022.
Repeatedly calling out the regime for its assault on its own citizens in his rap lyrics and on social media, the 32-year-old Salehi has long been critical of the who rule Iran. Snapped up in October 2022 and labeled as “one of the leaders of the riots” by pro-government media, Salehi was released from prison last year for a few week. Charged with “making false claims and spreading lies” and additionally “corruption on Earth,” according to Iranian media, Salehi was soon rearrested and sent back behind bars. The latest incarceration by the authorities in Tehran came after Salehi revealed in a video that he had been tortured and placed in solitary confinement for 252 days.
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Salehi’s arrest and detention attracted attention from outside Iran, with the likes of former The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power star Nazanin Boniadi, The Recording Academy, Richard Branson, and others requesting his release and condemning Iran’s rulers and their repression.
Everything took an unexpected turn in June when the Iranian Supreme Court overturned Salehi’s death sentence with the opinion that there had been an “excess of legal punishment.” That led to the matter being referred to a lower court for resentencing and, in mid-August, Salehi’s attorney Amir Raesian revealed his client had been fully acquitted.
Now Salehi is free.
PREVIOUSLY, APRIL 27 AM: A lawyer for Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi said his client has been given a death sentence for his involvement in the protests that swept Iran in 2022.
“An order for the execution of Toomaj Salehi has been issued,” Salehi’s lawyer Amir Raesian tweeted Wednesday.
The 32-year-old rapper has been detained, held in solitary confinement, and was allegedly tortured following his arrest.
A court in Isfahan has upheld 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 has been critical of the Iranian regime and outspoken against the government in rap lyrics and on social media. He was briefly released from prison last year, but was rearrested sent back to prison. The rearrest came after he revealed in a video that he was tortured and placed in solitary confinement for 252 days.
“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.”
Bruce Haring contributed to this report
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