Iran frees rapper Toomaj Salehi, whose lyrics about Mahsa Amini initially saw him sentenced to death
Iranian rapper and activist Toomaj Salehi has been released from prison more than two years after his lyrics and support of massive women’s rights demonstrations that swept the country following the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini saw him jailed and eventually sentenced to death, lawyers representing him said in a statement Monday.
Salehi’s international legal team at the British firm Doughty Street Chambers welcomed his released, which was also reported by Iran’s state-run media, in a statement posted on their website, saying Salehi was “released from prison overnight by Iranian authorities.”
“Our brave, brilliant client Toomaj Salehi is finally free, after 753 days’ imprisonment,” Caoilfhionn Gallagher, international legal counsel for Salehi’s family, said in the statement from the firm.
Doughty Street Chambers/ Toomaj Salehi
“Mr Salehi has long used his powerful art — his rapping, his music, his words — to support the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement and human rights in Iran. For this, the Iranian authorities have targeted him for years, attempting to silence him through arrests, imprisonment, torture, assaults, and even a death sentence,” Gallagher said, adding: “The world must not look away now: we must ensure Mr Salehi remains free and is never again subjected to the egregious violations of his rights which he has endured over the past 753 days,” she added.
Salehi posted a photo on his Instagram account to thank well-wishers for their support, saying: “For the past two years, you have done for me unpredictable, magnificent and unbelievable things, I am a part of you today.”
The 33-year-old rapper was arrested in October 2022 after publicly backing the protests that erupted in the aftermath of Amini’s death. An Iranian Kurd, Amini died in police custody after being detained over an alleged breach of the hardline Islamic republic’s strict rules on women’s attire.
Salehi joined other protesters on the streets and wrote a song condemning the Iranian regime for Amini’s death.
“Someone’s crime was dancing with her hair in the wind. Someone’s crime was that he or she was brave and outspoken,” he said in his song “Fal,” which was released shortly before his arrest.
In June, Iran’s Supreme Court overturned a death sentence that had been handed to Salehi by another Iranian court on a charge of “corruption on Earth.”
Iranian courts often hear cases entirely behind closed doors, with evidence produced in secret and limited rights given to those on trial. The death sentence drew wide international condemnation.
Iran’s state-run media, including the Mizan outlet controlled by the country’s judiciary, widely reported Salehi’s release. Mizan said he was freed Sunday after serving a one-year sentence on a charge of acting against the government, but other charges against the rapper were still pending, and state media outlets did not say whether he could face new trials on other counts.
