A court in Iran sentenced the famous rapper to death Tumaj Salehi on charges linked to the 2022-2023 protest movement in the country, his lawyer told Sharq newspaper today.

In his songs, Salehi has been advocating for months the 2022 protests in Iran, sparked by the death in police custody of Mahsa Aminiof a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who had been arrested for wearing an “inappropriate” hijab.

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Salehi, aged 33, was initially arrested in October 2022 after he made public statements in support of protests in the country.

He was sentenced in 2023 to six years and three months in prison, but had avoided the death penalty thanks to a Supreme Court ruling.

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“The First Division of the Revolutionary Court (of the central city) Isfahan in an unprecedented move, did not implement the decision of the Supreme Court… and sentenced Salehi to the harshest punishment,” Amir Raisian’s lawyer told Sharq newspaper.

The Iranian court has not yet confirmed the sentence. Salehi has 20 days to appeal the decision.

“We will definitely appeal this verdict,” his lawyer said.

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Check out this Instagram post.

The post was shared by Toomaj Salehi | Toomaj Saleh (@toomajofficial)