Iranian rapper Toomaj released from prison after death sentence is overturned
Iranian hip-hop star Toomaj was arrested in October 2022 following comments he made about protests across the nation, eventually resulting in him being sentenced to death. However, on December 1st, he was released from prison.
34-year-old Toomaj, who is known for his protest songs, served a one-year sentence in the city of Isfahan after speaking out against the Iranian regime. His death sentence related to the Iran unrest was overturned in June.
“For the past two years you have done for me unpredictable, magnificent and unbelievable things,” he told his 2.6 million followers on Instagram upon his release. “I am a part of you today and for you, I thank you more than anything for allowing me to be a part of you.”
In his music, Toomaj addressed the protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody. The 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman was arrested for allegedly wearing an “improper” hijab that was against Iran’s Islamic dress code.
According to a United Nations fact-finding mission, Amini’s death was considered unlawful and caused by “physical violence in the custody of state authorities.”
In July 2023, Toomaj was sentenced by the Iranian Government to six years in prison for participating in the 2022 Iran protests. Then, in April 2024, he was sentenced to death for charges involving Iran’s 2022–23 Woman, Life, Freedom movement.
He was charged with “spreading corruption on earth” for sharing music that criticised the government and telling his followers to join the protests in videos across his social media channels.
Speaking to Rolling Stone earlier this year, lawyer and Iranian-American activist, Elica Le Bon, called Toomaj a “beloved icon for the Iranian people with his unrivaled courage to express life under the brutal regime through hip-hop music, an artistic expression that — like most forms of art — is illegal in Iran.”
She continued, “It is hard to believe that we live in a time where an incredibly talented rap artist could be lynched from a crane for his musical library, but that is the reality that Iranians face daily, and have been facing daily for the past 45 years.”