Iran’s death sentence for rapper sparks protests and undermines criticism of US
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Protesters at a rally in Berlin against the death sentence given to Toomaj Salehi. Photograph: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP
Iran’s death sentence for rapper sparks protests and undermines criticism of US
The Guardian-April29th2024
An Iranian court’s decision to pass the death sentence against Toomaj Salehi, a popular Iranian rapper and regime opponent, has led to international protests and damaged Iran’s fledgling efforts to exploit crackdowns on unrest in US university campuses over Gaza as an abuse of human rights.
Crowds gathered in the US, Europe and Canada on Sunday to support Salehi, while dozens of political prisoners in Iran’s Ghezel Hesar prison issued a statement condemning the death sentence, calling it “the culmination of gross human rights violations in Iran”. Salehi has also won the support of major US rappers, as well as human rights groups.
The Iranian press has been closely following the campus unrest in the US and France, including reports that 900 American students have been detained in April. The social media account of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said: “See what is happening in the world. In western countries, in England and France, and in states across the US itself, people are coming out in huge numbers to chant slogans against Israel and America. US & Israel’s reputation has been ruined. They truly have no solution.”
But even some reformist Iranian newspapers said the regime’s propaganda in the international arena had suffered reputational damage as a result of the surprise decision to issue the death sentence against a singer associated with defiance, but not violence against the regime.
Ever since he shot to prominence, Salehi has been distinguished by his personal bravery and determination to help unite the Iranian Women, Life, Freedom movement.
Salehi was arrested in October 2022 in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province after making public statements in support of the nationwide protests caused by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman arrested for allegedly wearing an “improper” hijab.
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