US rappers outraged after Toomaj Salehi is sentenced to prison

Iranian rapper avoided the death penalty after his conviction this week for taking part in protests

Demonstrators in Istanbul hold placards with portraits of Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, and children who were killed during the protests in Iran, on November 26, 2022. AFP

Iranian-American musicians have reacted with anger after Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi was sentenced to six years in prison for taking part in anti-regime protests.

Salehi was sentenced in Iran on Monday after his outspoken criticism of Tehran and his conviction of “enmity against God”, a charge that could have carried the death penalty.

The rapper was held in solitary confinement and tortured while in custody, his supporters and relatives say.

“When I heard about what happened to Toomaj since last October, I took it personally,” Iranian-American rapper Shaheen Samadi told The National.

“We’re both Iranian rappers who use our artform to [spread] awareness and raise hope for Iranians. The only difference is that I rap in English, and I live in the US.

"So it disgusted me to know that he was in solitary confinement and now six-plus years in jail for something I do every day in the US.”

A clampdown by Iranian authorities on the protest movement after the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, in police custody in September has left more than 500 demonstrators dead and about 20,000 in prison.

Another US-Iranian rapper, who asked to remain anonymous over fears of retribution from Tehran, said artists should be able to voice their views without worrying about reprisals from their own government.

“Any artist has the right to express their thoughts and beliefs, no matter how much it could offend anyone,” the rapper said.

“Especially when what they are expressing is their concern for freedom and basic human rights.”

Samadi performed at a recent festival in the Washington area, where more than 50 Iranian Americans gathered to speak out against the death of Amini and Tehran's response to protests caused by it.

She died in the custody of morality police after she was detained for the way she was wearing her headscarf.

“I felt obligated to participate in this because I feel the No 1 duty of the Iranian diaspora is to keep gathering people and to keep protesting and raising awareness for what’s happening in Iran," Samadi said.

"As a hip-hop artist, I believe that music always plays a role in educating, raising awareness, giving hope and power to the people."

Authorities in Iran have reduced the number of protests in recent months, something noted by Iman Huschmand, who organised last week's Azadi Festival in Washington.

The festival “is something that will help bring awareness to two important things that the regime has really stripped away from us", Mr Huschmand said.

"And that is a good reputation for all the great things that we have and bringing awareness to all the oppression, as well as the killings and tortures that they have been injecting into our country for the last 44 years."

Mr Huschmand’s planning of public and cultural for events led him to launch Unite and Conquer, a community organisation dedicated to all things Iranian, in 2019.