Urgent measures are needed to save the life of Toomaj Salehi, an artist and political prisoner in Iran. The 33-year-old artist and rapper, Toomaj Salehi, was sentenced to death on April 24, but the verdict has not yet been finalized.
Toomaj Salehi, a 33-year-old mechanical engineer specializing in the production of medical industrial components, is a popular Iranian rapper known for his socially critical songs and his outspoken criticism of the Iranian regime. He is currently imprisoned in Dastgerd Prison in Isfahan.
His songs have gained attention both inside and outside Iran. For his advocacy for human rights, freedom of speech, and promoting peace through art and poetry, he was awarded the “Cultures of Resistance Award.”
Toomaj sees his mission as giving people courage and hope. “What am I afraid of? I’m only afraid of being a coward,” he says. After a year of imprisonment and severe physical and psychological abuse, a death sentence was imposed on him, sparking a wave of international condemnation.
The UN Commission of Inquiry urgently called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of Toomaj Salehi: “We strongly condemn the death sentence for Toomaj Salehi. We demand his immediate release,” tweeted the U.S. Special Envoy for Iran. “These are the latest examples of the regime’s brutal abuse of its own citizens, disregard for human rights, and fear of the democratic change that the Iranian people aspire to.” UN experts have also urged Iranian authorities to overturn the death sentence.
AFP – Agence France Presse reported on April 25, 2024, that France condemned the death sentence handed down by an Iranian court against rapper Toomaj Salehi, who has strongly supported the protests against the regime since 2022, as “unacceptable.” “France condemns this verdict in the strongest terms, which adds to the numerous other death sentences and unjustified executions related to the 2022 protests in Iran,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement, describing Salehi as a “committed artist.”
Many other media outlets, including the NZZ on April 24, reported: On April 26, 2024, the “Revolutionary Court” of the city of Isfahan handed down a death sentence against Toomaj. He is accused of “corruption on Earth.” The regime intends to make an example of this rapper. The message to his supporters is clear: those who play the hero risk their lives.
Currently, phone calls and visits from his family have been prohibited since April 28. And any prisoner who speaks with him is taken for interrogation.
In an appeal to the United Nations on April 26, Verein Welle strongly condemned the new wave of executions, including this death sentence, and urgently called for measures to bring those responsible for crimes against humanity in Iran to justice.
Moreover, Verein Welle has intensified its efforts to save the lives of prisoners and overturn death sentences, especially in the case of Toomaj Salehi, through an urgent emergency campaign.
English 
German 
French