359

Iran: Rapper Toomaj Salehi sentenced to death, says lawyer (www.dw.com)

submitted 6 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

38 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Popular rapper Toomaj Salehi wrote songs in support of the protest movement in Iran following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini in 2022. He has been in jail for over a year.

Popular Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi was sentenced to death over his role in supporting the protest movement triggered by the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, Iranian reformist newspaper Shargh Daily reported quoting the musician's lawyer.

"Branch 1 of Isfahan Revolutionary Court ... sentenced Toomaj Salehi to death on the charge of corruption on Earth," the singer's lawyer Amir Raisian told the newspaper.

The charge covers a broad range of offenses including those related to Islamic morality and can carry the death penalty.

Salehi, 33, was arrested for showing support for anti-government protests, following the death of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini in September 2022. He had also written songs about the protests.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] mister_monster@monero.town 183 points 6 months ago

Good god Iran's shit is all over the place. He gets sentenced to 6 years, appeals it, gets sentenced to death. Death dude. For saying something out loud. How do governments like this expect to ever gain legitimacy in the eyes of the people they rule?

[-] Kalkaline@leminal.space 115 points 6 months ago

They don't want legitimacy, they want to rule by brute force

[-] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 13 points 6 months ago

I've always wondered what the heck they stand to gain.. what's the reason for all the shitiness if you as the dicktator end up hung on a pole later for the next dicktator.

[-] CosmicCleric@lemmy.world 12 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I’ve always wondered what the heck they stand to gain…

For the same gain as why Putin's adversaries fall out of tall building windows; less adversaries. Also, scare the population into submission.

And when your choice is either success or death, you tend to double-down, again, and again.

~Anti~ ~Commercial-AI~ ~license~ ~(CC~ ~BY-NC-SA~ ~4.0)~

[-] eronth@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

Eh, you tend to learn how to make anything you do sound like huge success, regardless of whether it actually is or isn't.

[-] thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 6 months ago

Because if they do it right, they will be the one wearing the boots that hold the heads of the masses to the ground

[-] dovahking@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. And politicians suck at learning lessons.

[-] murmelade@lemmy.ml 4 points 6 months ago

money

[-] Atin@lemmy.world 35 points 6 months ago

Fear is the most powerful legitimacy authoritarians have.

[-] kromem@lemmy.world 13 points 6 months ago

Until it isn't.

Ask Gaddafi how 'fear' worked out as a tactic in the end.

[-] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 15 points 6 months ago

Gaddafi is an excellent example of why most tyrants ban education instead of paying for everyone's college.

What a weird dude he was. So many unforced errors, so much unnecessary violence mixed with actually seeming to want to improve the standard of living.

[-] Atin@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

It worked as well as any tyrant deserves.

[-] Badeendje@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

Uhm, there is a good chunk of the population that does not disagree with their government.

Plenty of people in Iran suffer under the regime and the barbaric worldviews the government brings into practice. But don't be fooled ino thinking these people are a majority there.

Also in Islamic countries that do actually have free elections, Islamist parties get plenty of votes.

[-] Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee 19 points 6 months ago

I have a Persian expat for a colleague, and he surmised it basically as such:

For the poor and uneducated, there is religion and aggression with Israel and the US to control them. They are so focused on the outside world, they do not question if better can exist at home by not giving Sepah all the money and power
For the educated and activists, theirs is brutal repression. You shut up now and forever, or risk everything (including death) to tweet or rip down a poster.

Not many are genuinely happy with the government, especially those who were alive during the Shah and have witness Iran’s downfall in their lifetime. But there’s no option except to emigrate, or accept your reality - the Guardian Council decides in reality.

[-] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 months ago

So basically the Proles and the party members, ya know I fucking hate how good human patern recognition can be.

[-] Eatspancakes84@lemmy.world 15 points 6 months ago

The entire point in sentencing people like him is fear that he may unite the majority that is against the regime. Also Iran is not your typical Islamic country. The average level of education is high among men and women and until the 1980s women had a lot of freedom. Repression is truly the only way for the current leadership to stay in charge.

[-] ReiRose@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

Let's hope his death unites the majority that is against the regime. I mean, let's hope he doesn't have to die at all, but if he does that it reignites the protests.

this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2024

359 points (97.4% liked)

World News

39019 readers

2202 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
- Post news articles only
- Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
- Title must match the article headline
- Not United States Internal News
- Recent (Past 30 Days)
- Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed. Sources that have a Low or Very Low factual reporting rating or MBFC Credibility Rating may be removed.
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF 10/19
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.