Iran’s Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of a authorities critic and a well-liked hip-hop artist, Toomaj Salehi — who got here to fame over his lyrics about the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini in 2022 — his lawyer Amir Raisian mentioned Saturday.
In a put up on social media platform X, Raisian mentioned the court docket assessed the case and located Salehi’s previous six years in jail as “excessive” since the punishment was greater than what was allowed by legislation. He added that one other department of the court docket will now assessment the case.
Salehi’s death sentence in April by a Revolutionary Court in the central metropolis of Isfahan created confusion as even Iran’s state-run IRNA information company and the judiciary didn’t formally verify it. Such courts in Iran typically contain closed-door hearings with proof produced secretary and provides restricted rights to these on trial.
The information rapidly drew worldwide criticism from the United States and United Nations specialists, who condemned it as an indication of Tehran’s persevering with crackdown towards all dissent following years of mass protests.
YUKI IWAMURA/AFP by way of Getty Images
Salehi, 33, was arrested in October 2022 after publicly supporting demonstrations that erupted after the death in custody of Amini, 22. Amini had been detained by Iran’s morality police for carrying her hijab too loosely, CBS News beforehand reported. Supporters of Salehi mentioned his expenses had been based mostly on his music and participation in the protests.Â
Salehi rapped about Amini in one video, saying: “Someone’s crime was dancing with her hair in the wind.” In one other verse, he predicts the downfall of Iran’s theocracy.
The Revolutionary Court had accused Salehi of “assistance in sedition, assembly and collusion, propaganda against the system and calling for riots,” Raisian mentioned.Â
Shortly after his launch in November 2023, Salehi was despatched to jail once more after saying in a video message that he was tortured after his detention in October 2022. State media at the time launched a video exhibiting him blindfolded and apologizing for his phrases, a press release seemingly to have been made below duress. Later in 2023, a court docket sentenced Salehi to greater than six years in jail.
United Nations investigators say Iran was liable for Amini’s death, and that it violently put down largely peaceful protests in a monthslong safety crackdown that killed greater than 500 individuals and noticed over 22,000 detained. Nine males have been executed in protest-related instances involving killing and different violence towards safety forces.
