Salehi “should never have been imprisoned to begin with,” read part of a statement on Bluesky by the Index on Censorship campaign. But “the root cause” of his arrest “still remains,” said Salehi’s cousin Arezou Eghbali Babadi, which he called “the inhumanity of the regime in Iran, a system that thrives on oppression and fear.” Photo provided by Teresa Suarez/EPA-EFE
Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi has avoided a death sentence and been unexpectedly set free from prison after nearly two years, according to his family.
Salehi, 34, was released on Sunday “after serving his sentence” of a little more than a year for allegedly spreading propaganda against the Iranian state stemming from protests in recent years, according to Iran’s judiciary-run Mizan reported by BBC. Advertisement
The release comes after 753 days spent in a prison in Isfahan, officials say. But a spokesperson for the rapper says neither Salehi or his family knew he was to be set free.
“Toomaj himself didn’t know he was going to be released,” his spokesperson Negin Niknaam told The Guardian.
Initially he was sentenced in July 2023 to six years and three months in prison. Salehi was charged for allegedly spreading lies in cyberspace, disruption of public order and propaganda against the Iranian establishment. Advertisement
He was arrested in October 2022 after publicly supporting anti-government protests styled as the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement that was critical of the Iranian regime that erupted following the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
She was arrested on Sept. 13 of that year by Iran’s Guidance Patrol — also known as the Morality Police — accused of violating the nation’s draconian hijab laws by waving an “improper” hijab.
His sudden release arrived after a top Iranian official said Sunday the government would take steps to reform its new hijab restrictions.
Amini was an Iranian Kurdish woman visiting the nation’s capitol of Tehran in late summer of 2022. Her death sparked mass women-led protests that were met with a bloody and brutal crackdown by Tehran.
At least 551 protesters, including 68 children and 49 women, were killed by security forces quelling the demonstrations, Iran Human Rights had said.
Credible reports said Iranian state police beat Amini about the head while in custody. However, the regime claimed the young girl died of a heart attack.
The United Nations and European Union had also demanded that those responsible for Amini’s death be brought to justice.
She fell into a coma at the Vozara Detention Center and then later died on Sept. 16. Advertisement
Last year in October, the European Parliament posthumously awarded Amini and Iran’s “Women, Life, Freedom” movement with its 2023 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
Meanwhile, Salehi briefly was released on bail but was arrested once more days later for supposedly sharing “false claims without evidence” possibly in reference to a video post in which he claimed to have been “tortured” by Iranian intelligence agents.
Salehi was later sentenced to death in April of this year for the capital offense of “corruption on earth” but was later overturned by a Supreme Court ruling.
He was already banned by the government prior to his arrest from performing.
In September on the two-year anniversary of Amini’s death, the Biden administration slapped new sanctions on those who U.S. officials believed had been responsible for the oppression of protestors protesters after they took to the streets in anger following Amini’s untimely death under questionable circumstances.
However, Salehi “should never have been imprisoned to begin with,” read part of a statement on Bluesky by the Index on Censorship campaign.
But “the root cause” of his arrest “still remains,” said Salehi’s cousin Arezou Eghbali Babadi, which he called “the inhumanity of the regime in Iran, a system that thrives on oppression and fear.” Advertisement
