Popular rapper Toomaj Salehi wrote songs in support of the protest movement in Iran following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini in 2022. He has been in jail for over a year.
Popular Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi was sentenced to death over his role in supporting the protest movement triggered by the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, Iranian reformist newspaper Shargh Daily reported quoting the musician’s lawyer.
“Branch 1 of Isfahan Revolutionary Court … sentenced Toomaj Salehi to death on the charge of corruption on Earth,” the singer’s lawyer Amir Raisian told the newspaper.
The charge covers a broad range of offenses including those related to Islamic morality and can carry the death penalty.
Salehi, 33, was arrested for showing support for anti-government protests, following the death of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini in September 2022. He had also written songs about the protests.
Fear is the most powerful legitimacy authoritarians have.
Until it isn’t.
Ask Gaddafi how ‘fear’ worked out as a tactic in the end.
Gaddafi is an excellent example of why most tyrants ban education instead of paying for everyone’s college.
What a weird dude he was. So many unforced errors, so much unnecessary violence mixed with actually seeming to want to improve the standard of living.
It worked as well as any tyrant deserves.