Cartoon by Naeim Tadayon

Hundreds of Iranian Musicians Decry Toomaj Salehi's Death Sentence

IranWire: Over 300 Iranian musicians have condemned the death sentence given to rapper Toomaj Salehi, calling it cruel and unprecedented and demanding his immediate release.

They called Salehi "the trailblazer of the silenced voices and the just aspirations of a generation of Iranians," while urgently calling for the annulment of his "inhumane sentence" of execution.

In a statement published on Sunday, the musicians said, "The music community of Iran reels in disbelief. Condemning the young artist Toomaj Salehi to death on false charges is a cruel and unprecedented act in the annals of Iran's contemporary music history."

The signatories, numbering over 300, laud Salehi as "a vanguard of the muted cries and legitimate yearnings of Iranian youth, who endeavor for a peaceful existence in their homeland."

They added, "The eyes of the world are upon us, and history will remember this moment, a time when an unjust verdict was pronounced in this land for peacefully protesting."

Simultaneously, ten political detainees from Ghezelhesar prison in Karaj issued an open letter on Sunday, denouncing Salehi's death sentence as "the egregious pinnacle of human rights violations in Iran."

They condemned the authorities of the Islamic Republic for their systematic abuse of power.

A Revolutionary Court in central Isfahan sentenced Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi to death last week.

Salehi was initially arrested in October 2022 after voicing support for the nationwide Woman, Life, Freedom protests that had erupted the previous month.

He released songs criticizing the government and supporting the protests that demanded more freedom and women's rights.