Amir Reisian, Toomaj Salehi’s lawyer, says the so-called “Revolutionary Court” in an “unprecedented” move has sentenced this dissident singer “to the death penalty on charges of corruption on earth, the harshest punishment.”
Amir Reisian stated on Wednesday, April 24, in an interview with Shargh Network that the death sentence for his client was issued for charges brought against him in the 2022 case.
“But the stranger thing here is that the preliminary court, in addition to the death penalty, has also considered a supplementary sentence and has sentenced Toomaj Salehi to two years of travel ban, two bans on artistic activities, and participation in behavioral management and skill classes at the Isfahan Knowledge and Justice Court. This court has also declared the suspended sentence for Toomaj Salehi to be enforceable”, Reisian added.
Reisian denied reports of “pardon” or “sentence reduction” for him, stating that “we will definitely object to the issued sentence for Toomaj Salehi.”
In mid-March, a session was held in Isfahan Criminal Court to hear the 2023 case of Toomaj Salehi on charges of “inciting violent acts through computer systems” and “spreading falsehoods through computers.”
In July 2023, it was announced that the Isfahan Revolutionary Court had sentenced Toomaj Salehi to six years and three months in prison for the charge of corruption on earth in the case filed in 2022.
The Supreme Court revoked the previous sentence issued for Toomaj Salehi, but his lawyer announced last year that even after the revoking of this sentence in the Supreme Court and the necessity of removing two of his charges, the Revolutionary Court referred the case back to the Isfahan Prosecutor’s Office.
Reisian also announced in February that two new charges had been added to his client’s “previous indictment,” and this protesting singer had faced charges of “sedition,” meaning armed uprising and group against the system, as well as “conspiracy and collusion to commit crimes against security” in the 2022 case.
In response to the issuance of the death sentence for Toomaj Salehi, Ye-One Rhie, a member of the German Parliament and Salehi’s political sponsor, stated that he was “shocked and angry” to hear this news.
In a video message, he said that issuing a death sentence for this singer is not even logical according to “Iran’s procedures,” and added: “How is it possible that the accusations for which Toomaj received six years of imprisonment last year have become so great that he receives such a heavy sentence.”
Toomaj Salehi, a rap singer, was released on bail on November 18, 2023, “after enduring 252 days of solitary confinement and a total of one year and 21 days of imprisonment,” but only 12 days later, after releasing a video describing his torture in prison, he was detained again with “forceful arrest.”
This singer supported the protesters for a long time during the 2022 protests, and for this reason, he was detained by security forces and then tried in the Revolutionary Court.
“The Iranian regime’s judiciary has orchestrated a farcical and vulgar scenario by playing with the criminal execution verdict for the Iranian artist and political prisoner Toomaj Salehi. This verdict is wholly unwarranted, even within the framework of the regime’s own laws. It serves as a crude attempt to divert public attention from the McCaul Act and the six accompanying bills, which represent a significant step against the regime of execution and massacre. It is evident that the regime is using this scenario not only to threaten the life of Toomaj but also to overshadow a recent surge in executions, which includes 19 executions carried out on Sunday and Wednesday of this week alone. Over the last two weeks, there have been 39 announced executions,” said PMOI Spokesperson on the criminal execution verdict for Iranian artist and political prisoner Toomaj Salehi.
