DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s Supreme Courtroom overturned the dying sentence of a authorities critic and a well-liked hip-hop artist, Toomaj Salehi — who got here to fame over his lyrics in regards to the dying in police custody of Mahsa Amini in 2022 — his lawyer Amir Raisian mentioned Saturday.
In a submit on social media platform X, Raisian mentioned that the courtroom assessed the case and located Salehi’s previous six years in jail as “extreme” for the reason that punishment was greater than what was allowed by regulation. He added that one other department of the courtroom will now evaluate the case.
Salehi’s dying sentence in April by a Revolutionary Courtroom within the central metropolis of Isfahan created confusion as even Iran’s state-run IRNA information company and the judiciary didn’t formally affirm it. Such courts in Iran usually contain closed-door hearings with proof produced secretary and provides restricted rights to these on trial.
The information shortly drew worldwide criticism from the US and United Nations consultants, who condemned it as an indication of Tehran’s persevering with crackdown in opposition to all dissent following years of mass protests.
Salehi was launched from jail final November after spending a yr there on expenses that his supporters mentioned have been based mostly on the hip-hop artist’s music and participation within the protests that broke out in Iran over the dying of Mahsa Amini, 22. Amini died within the custody of the nation’s morality police after being detained for carrying her hijab too loosely.
Salehi rapped about Amini in a single video, saying: “Somebody’s crime was dancing along with her hair within the wind.” In one other verse, he predicts the downfall of Iran’s theocracy.
Shortly after his launch final yr, 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 on the time launched a video displaying him blindfolded and apologizing for his phrases, a press release more likely to have been made beneath duress. Later in 2023, a courtroom sentenced Salehi to greater than six years in jail.
United Nations investigators say Iran was accountable for Amini’s dying, and that it violently put down largely peaceable protests in a monthslong safety crackdown that killed greater than 500 folks and noticed over 22,000 detained.
