Iran’s Revolutionary Court announced in April that regime-critical rapper Toomaj Salehi would be sentenced to death for “spreading corruption in the world”.
TV4 Nyheterna was then in contact with Toomaj’s uncle, who was deeply shocked by the sentence.
– We are very worried and have barely slept a few hours these days, the uncle told us.
Now the Iranian court has changed its mind.
TV4 Nyheterna has previously told about the Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, who was arrested in the fall of 2022 after his political lyrics became a thorn in the side of the Iranian regime.
Toomaj’s uncle, Eghbal Eghbali, who lives in Germany, told TV4 Nyheterna in April that he was surprised by the death sentence Toomaj received. A sentence that the uncle believes had no legal basis.
– Many are surprised how a young man, a musician whose songs are critical of the regime and a voice for the people, can be captured, tortured and released from prison, only to be captured again only 12 days after his release for criticizing the regime and receive a death sentence, said Eghbal Eghbali.
The maternal uncle appealed to the outside world to act to stop the execution.
– I expect the outside world to break all relations with Iran and expel all Iranian ambassadors, as well as break all economic, political and diplomatic ties to Iran.
Now Iran’s Supreme Court has lifted the death sentence against Toomaj Salehi.
“Salehi’s death sentence has been overturned,” writes the artist’s lawyer on X, adding that the Supreme Court has ordered a new trial in the case.