“Someone’s crime was that her hair was blowing in the wind. One’s crime was to be brave and honest.’
These lyrics could cost the life of Iranian rap artist Toomaj Salehi. In any other country he could easily rap about the everyday problems his countrymen face without consequence.
But because he lives in Iran, Salehi’s fate is quite different.
The 32-year-old underground dissident rapper was forcibly arrested last Saturday along with two friends, his uncle said, and now faces charges of crimes punishable by death, according to Iran’s state media.
Some 14,000 people in Iran have been arrested, including journalists, activists, lawyers and teachers during protests that have rocked the country since September, according to a top United Nations official.
The unrest was sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who died on September 16 after being arrested by “morality police” and taken to a “re-education center”, allegedly for not wearing her hijab. properly.
“I woke up at two in the morning with a phone call from Toomaj’s friend saying ‘our parts have been leaked,'” Salehi’s uncle Eghbal Eghbali told CNN. “Since then we’ve been worried about what happened to Toomai.”
Eghbali says he found out through Salehi’s friends later that morning that about 50 people raided his nephew’s residence in the Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province of southwestern Iran.
The rapper is charged with “propaganda activity against the government, collaboration with enemy governments and forming illegal groups with the aim of creating insecurity in the country,” state-run IRNA reported, citing the judiciary of Isfahan province.
Salehi’s uncle said that his nephew is currently being held in a prison in the city of Isfahan and that he has information that he was tortured. Salehi is a resident of Shaheen Shahr, about 20 kilometers north of Isfahan.
“We still don’t know anything about Toomaj’s health condition. The family tried very hard even to hear his voice, but no one gave us any information about Toomai,” he said. “We don’t even know if Toomaj and his friends are alive or not.”
Salehi’s friends who were arrested with him over the weekend, boxing champion Mohammad Reza Nikraftar and kickboxer Najaf Abu Ali, have also not been heard from since, Eghbali said.
“The defendants played a key role in creating, inviting and encouraging riots in Isfahan province and Shaheen Shahr city,” Isfahan province judiciary spokesman Seyed Mohammad Mousaviyan was quoted as saying by IRNA.
After his arrest, a short video of what appears to be a blindfolded Salehi appeared on the state-run news agency, the Young Journalists Club (YJC). Salehi appears to be under pressure to express remorse for comments he made on social media.
Salehi’s uncle was adamant that the man in the video was not his nephew, adding that the government had political goals in releasing the short clip. Eghbali also rejects the government’s claim that his nephew was on the run at the time of his arrest.
“Absolutely not,” Eghbali said. “Because where Toomaj lived or where we are in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, we basically have no road to the border. This is a very silly claim. Anyone who knows the geography of Iran will not believe such a claim.”
Since the beginning of nationwide protests that began in mid-September, Salehi, who IRNA said was also arrested in September 2021, has been calling on Iranians to demonstrate against the government.
“None of us have a different blood color,” Salehi wrote on Instagram. “Do not forget our wonderful union and do not allow them to create division between us, in this bloody and sad paradise.”
Salehi, who is of Bakhtiari ethnicity himself, has long rapped about Iran’s multi-ethnic makeup, encouraging unity among Iranians of different ethnicities.
“Stand with us, we’ve stood by you for years,” Salehi raps on his song “Meydoone jang,” which translates as “The Battlefield.”
“It is not enough to be revolutionary, we have revolutionary roots. Arabs, Assyrians, Armenians, Turkmens, Mazandari, Sistani, Baluch, Talis, Tatars, Azeris, Kurds, Gilaki, Lor, Farsi and Kaskai, we are the unity of the rivers: we are the sea.”
Days before his arrest, Salehi posted videos on Instagram alongside protesters in the street. Since then, his fans, Iranians in the diaspora, as well as musicians and activists, have called for his release.
“A lot of rappers have come out and supported him,” Iranian rapper, songwriter and activist Erfan Paydar told CNN. “Toomaj’s bravery to protest in the streets encouraged others to get out there and speak and made people think ‘if he’s willing to get out there and isn’t afraid, then maybe we shouldn’t be.’
Paydar said Salehi recently shared a message with his trusted friends, which was to be released if caught. “You will proceed according to my mode. You are my most trusted person,” the message reads.
“The priority is with students and workers, you will cover all calls for protests, you will not support any party or group, do not write much about prisoners unless their situation worsens and they have no voice. Concentrate on attack and not on defense.”
Security forces arrested several musicians and artists, including two other rappers who took part in protests – Emad Ghavidel from Rasht and Kurdish rapper Saman Yasin from Kermanshah.
Ghavidel was released and described in an Instagram post how he was tortured and had his teeth broken. Yasin was subjected to severe mental and physical torture during his detention, according to the Norway-based Kurdish human rights group Hengaw, and was charged with a crime that could carry the death penalty in a sham trial.
“Toomai’s mother was a political prisoner,” Salehi’s uncle, who lives in Germany, told CNN. “She passed away a long time ago…if my sister was still alive, she would be the voice of Toomaj. Same with Toomaj’s voice. The same with many who are on the streets [in Iran] it’s Toomaj’s voice.”
Since Mahsa Amini’s death in custody, protesters across Iran have rallied around a series of grievances with the regime. Meanwhile, Iranian authorities are stepping up efforts to end the insurgency. About 1,000 people were charged in Tehran province for allegedly taking part in the protests, state news agency IRNA reported last week.
The defendants’ trials will be heard in public in the coming days, IRNA reported, citing Ali Al-Kashi Mehr, chief judge of Tehran province.
Iranian media reported last weekend that trials for several protesters had begun in the previous week.
