Iran rapper’s family fears for his life

Toomaj Salehi faces grave charge of ‘corruption on earth’

An Iranian rapper who expressed support for anti-regime protests is charged with “corruption on earth” and could face the death penalty, judicial authorities confirmed yesterday.

A US-based rights group had tweeted on Saturday that Toomaj Salehi’s trial had begun “without a lawyer of his choice”, and his family said his “life is at serious risk”.

“The trial has not yet begun but the charge against Toomaj Salehi has been drafted and sent back” to the court in Isfahan, said Assadollah Jafari, judicial chief in the central province, according to the judiciary’s Mizan Online website.

Salehi is charged with “corruption on earth”, according to the judiciary, one of the Islamic republic’s most serious offences.

Raft of charges

Salehi is also accused of spreading “lies on the internet, propaganda against the state, of having formed and managed illegal groups with the aim of disrupting security in cooperation with a government hostile” to Iran, and of inciting people to violence.

The September 16 death in morality police custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, for allegedly breaching the dress code for women, set off protests.

Salehi had disappeared at the end of October before appearing in a video published on November 2 by Iran’s state news agency Irna.

The video claimed to show the first images of Salehi after his arrest. His detention came shortly after he told Canadian Broadcasting Cooperation: “You are dealing with a mafia that is ready to kill the entire nation... in order to keep its power, money and weapons.”