Irananian rapper, Toomaj Salehi, who backed anti-government protesters last year, has been jailed for six years and three months, according to his lawyer and supporters.
The BBC reports that the 32-year-old was convicted of ‘corruption on Earth’. He was spared execution, his lawyer, Roza Etemad-Ansari, said.
Salehi was arrested during protests over the 2022 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested by Iran’s morality police for not wearing a headscarf. Salehi was among the tens of thousands of mostly young Iranians who protested over Amini’s death.
The rapper also shared clips of his songs supporting the movement.
Etemad-Ansari said Salehi had been cleared of ‘insulting the supreme leader’, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and of ‘communicating with hostile governments’. Nevertheless, the charge of ‘corruption on Earth’ is one of Iran’s most serious offences, covering insults against Islam, and carries a possible death sentence.
The rapper was sentenced after months in solitary confinement in Dastgerd prison in central Iran. He was reportedly subjected to a series of closed court sessions criticised by rights groups.