Iranian rapper released from prison after death sentence overturned

Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi has been released from custody after being sentenced to death for speaking out against the country’s regime. 

Salehi was released from prison on December 1 after his one-year sentence came to an end, according to Mizan news agency. 

A revolutionary court sentenced the rapper to death in April on charges of “inciting unrest” in the country from 2022 to 2023. 

His music supported protests after the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in September 2022 after she was taken into custody for wearing the hijab “improperly”, going against Iran’s dress code, according to Sky News. 

The protests following Amini’s death were massive and Salehi was one of “the leaders of the riots who promoted violence", said Iran International at the time. 

He was taken to prison in October 2022 after publicly supporting the nationwide protests. 

The next year, he was sentenced to six years in captivity but then he was briefly released on bail before being arrested on further charges. 

Then in 2024, he was sentenced to death in April 2024. 

People in Spain, France, Germany, America, Australia and London turned to the streets in protest wearing masks of his face. 

In May, more than 100 artists including Coldplay and author of “The Handmaid’s Tale” Margaret Atwood, signed a joint statement demanding Salehi to be released from prison. 

"We stand in solidarity with Toomaj Salehi," the statement read.

"No artist should be subject to any kind of judicial harassment for exercising their right to freedom of expression, much less be sentenced to death,” it added. 

Salehi’s death sentence was overturned by Iran’s Supreme Court in June.