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Contents – The long reach: How authoritarian countries are silencing critics abroad
Contents
Urgent appeal filed with United Nations for Iranian rapper sentenced to death for his music
An urgent appeal has been filed with two United Nations Special Rapporteurs on behalf of the family of Toomaj Salehi, an Iranian rapper and activist who has been sentenced to death in Iran.
Mr Salehi has been repeatedly imprisoned for his art – his rap music and videos – which is critical of Iranian authorities. Despite being arrested and released in 2021 for his music, Mr Salehi continued to make music and post videos expressing his opposition to the Iranian regime. After the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022, following her arrest for allegedly improperly wearing her hijab, Mr Salehi took part in the protests calling for justice and released multiple rap songs and videos speaking out for women’s rights.
In October 2022, he was arrested for his involvement in the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement and protests triggered by Mahsa Amini’s death. He was sentenced to over six years’ imprisonment, but then released in November 2023 when Iran’s Supreme Court identified flaws in his sentence. Two weeks later, however, he was re-arrested after recording a video in which he spoke about having been tortured in prison. In January 2024, he was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment and began serving that sentence.
On 23 April 2024, Mr Salehi’s domestic lawyer in Iran was notified that Branch 1 of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court had sentenced Mr Salehi to death. His death sentence was handed down for crimes including “participating in rebelling against state”, “gathering and colluding against national security”, and “propaganda against state”. The charges were said to amount to “corruption on Earth” which is punishable by death under the Islamic Penal Code. The ruling also includes a two-year travel ban and a two-year ban on practising art.
The appeal window within Iran is very short: 20 days from 23 April 2024. There is profound concern that the Iranian authorities may move very quickly following any appeal by Salehi to implement the sentence, particularly given the documented increase in executions in Iran. An April 2024 report by Amnesty International found that the Iranian authorities had executed at least 853 people last year, the highest number for eight years, transforming Iranian prisons into sites of mass killings.
A team of international lawyers from Doughty Street Chambers is acting for Toomaj Salehi’s family and Index on Censorship. Last night, they filed an Urgent Appeal with the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions and the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. They submit that Iran is in violation of its international legal obligations, failing to respect multiple rights of Mr Salehi’s, including his rights to life, to be free from torture, to a fair trial, and to freedom of expression.
Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, Jonathan Price, Sam Jacobs and Nikila Kaushik are instructed by Mr Salehi’s family and Index on Censorship, which is also supporting Mr Salehi and his family. Mr Salehi was Index on Censorship’s 2023 Freedom of Expression Art Award winner, recognising the importance of his work and his courage.
Mr Salehi’s cousin, Arezou Eghbali Babadi, welcomed the filing of the UN Urgent Appeal, and said: “The international community must stand in solidarity with Toomaj Salehi and all those who bravely speak out against injustice and oppression in Iran. Failure to act would not only imperil Toomaj’s life and well-being but would also embolden the Iranian regime to continue its harsh treatment of political prisoners which mostly meant to intimidate people and suppress dissent.”
Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, international counsel for Toomaj Salehi’s family and Index on Censorship, said: “Toomaj Salehi is a brilliant, brave, talented artist, who uses his music and his videos to stand up to the barbaric Iranian regime and to support the Iranian people’s struggle for human rights, democracy and freedom. The Iranian authorities have repeatedly tried to silence Toomaj. He has been unjustly imprisoned, prosecuted, beaten and tortured. Now, in a grotesque abuse of power, the Isfahan Revolutionary Court has sentenced Toomaj to death for his art – for his music and his words. This is flagrant flouting by Iran of its international legal obligations in its drive to quell any dissent, no matter how peaceful, and in its violent and lethal war against its own people.”
Nik Williams, Policy and Campaigns Officer at Index on Censorship, has said: “The death sentence given to Toomaj Salehi is a grotesque abuse of power by a regime that has criminalised dissent, art and expression. While Toomaj is one of thousands who have been persecuted following the tragic death of Mahsa Amini in police custody, his case symbolises the bravery of everyone who has spoken up. This is why Index is honoured to be working with his family and Doughty Street Chambers to try to secure his release. No one should be sentenced to death for their music or for standing as an ally to the courageous women who have been protesting since 2022.”
The Urgent Appeal asks that the UN Special Rapporteurs take exceptionally urgent action given the gravity of the situation and the imminent risk to Mr Salehi’s life.
Notes to Editors:
Any press queries for the international legal team should be directed to [email protected] or +442074041313.
Any press queries for Index on Censorship should be directed to Jemimah Steinfeld on [email protected].
Nobody is safe from Iran’s protest crackdown
We at Index on Censorship were rocked by last week’s news that Iranian rapper and human rights defender Toomaj Salehi has been sentenced to death for “spreading corruption on earth” following his involvement in the country’s Woman, Life, Freedom protests. The news was widely received with outrage and triggered significant pushback. Protests took place in cities all over the world, while a social media campaign calling for his release led to the hashtag #FreeToomaj trending on X (formerly Twitter). We joined with organisations PEN America and Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) to voice our condemnation of the Iranian’s sentence.
At Index we are committed to campaigning for Toomaj – the winner of Index’s 2023 Arts Freedom of Expression Award – to be freed from his unjust and outrageous sentence. However, this is not an isolated case. Another Iranian, Abbas Daris, was also sentenced to death for his role in the protests in 2021, although he was granted a retrial in 2023. Iran Human Rights director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said in a statement: “There’s no evidence against him but torture-tainted forced confessions, his sentence is unlawful not only according to international laws but even according to the Islamic Republic’s own laws.”
Similarly, in October 2023 Iranian Kurdish man Reza Rasaei, who was involved in the protests, was sentenced to death after being convicted of murder in a trial described by Amnesty International as “grossly unfair” due to the use of Rasaei’s confessions obtained through torture as evidence.
Other citizens have been jailed for their part in advocating for human rights. Asghar Nikoukar, a musician who played music at the graves of those killed during the protests, was sentenced to five years in prison. He has now been released but with an electronic tag, meaning he will spend the remainder of his sentence outside jail with limited mobility.
Earlier this week, news broke of one Iranian woman who had endured an even worse fate. A leaked document understood to have been written by Iran’s security forces revealed that Iranian teenager Nika Shakarami, who disappeared from an anti-regime protest in 2022 and whose body was found nine days later, was sexually assaulted and killed by three men. The Iran government claimed she took her own life.
The government has targeted those in the state fighting for women’s rights and human rights for many years, a worrying trend that has significantly increased since the Woman, Life, Freedom protests of 2022. The protests were sparked by the death of Mahsa “Jina” Amini in September of that year after being detained by Iran’s “morality police” for not wearing a headscarf. According to human rights groups, during the protests security forces used lethal force on protesters and killed more than 500 people.
Some of those who participated in the protests have already been executed by the Iranian regime. A report from two campaign groups – Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and France’s Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) – found that at least eight protesters were executed in 2023, six of whom had been arrested in relation to the Woman, Life, Freedom demonstrations and sentenced after unfair trials.
“Instilling societal fear is the regime’s only way to hold on to power,” Iran Human Rights Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam told the BBC in the wake of the report.
Salehi was already a well-known rapper who was renowned for his songs critiquing the Iranian regime, and had been arrested and imprisoned in 2021 for “propaganda against the regime” and “insulting the supreme leadership authority”. His decision to continue to throw his weight behind the Woman, Life, Freedom protests despite this is a testament to his incredible bravery. His case is incredibly important and urgent, as are the cases of the many others who have been punished for peaceful protesting.
There is a risk that external affairs, such as the state’s current involvement in the Israel-Gaza war, has overshadowed the injustices faced by those inside the country. We published an interview with Iranian film-maker Vahid Zarezadeh last week, who expressed his concern that the fate of protesters in Iran are being forgotten under the circumstances.
“Governments often utilise external conflicts to divert attention from domestic issues,” Zarezadeh said.
Toomaj’s case cannot be viewed as a one-off, but as a result of the actions of an authoritarian state systematically persecuting those who speak out against the regime, whether or not they have a large profile. We can’t allow the extent of the issue to go under the radar.
The death penalty is the new normal in Iran
Yes! Yes Sir! Life is normal
A labourer’s annual wage is worth a dinner abroad
Yes! Of course, Sir! Life is normal
We don’t dare say otherwise, in case we get in trouble
These are the opening lines of Toomaj Salehi’s song Normal. Salehi did dare to say otherwise though and for that he did get in trouble. On Wednesday an Iranian revolutionary court sentenced him to death. The charge was “corruption on earth”. The only thing corrupt is Iran’s regime.
For those unfamiliar with Salehi, he is a well-known Iranian hip-hop artist whose lyrics are infused with references to the human rights situation in Iran. He was an outspoken supporter of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. Last year, Index awarded Salehi a Freedom of Expression award in the Arts category. Salehi donated his cash prize to victims of recent floods in Iran.
Because of his advocacy Salehi has faced continuous judicial harassment, including arrest and imprisonment. He has been in and out of prison since 2021. A moment of respite came in November 2023 when Iran’s Supreme Court struck down Salehi’s six-year prison sentence. The respite was short-lived. Just days after he was released from prison Salehi was rearrested upon uploading a video to YouTube documenting his treatment while in detention.
On 18 April 2024, Branch 1 of Isfahan’s Revolutionary Court held a new trial for Salehi where the court ultimately convicted Salehi and sentenced him to death. His lawyer alleged that the ruling had significant legal errors, including contradicting the Supreme Court verdict. He said that they will appeal the verdict. They only have 20 days.
Index has been in close contact with his family, as well as lawyers and other organisations who work in our field. We are shocked by the barbarity of this decision (please read our CEO Ruth Anderson’s article on what he means to us more personally here), as well as heartened by how the international community has pulled together. If you are on social media and have not yet engaged with his case, we have a small favour to ask – do please post about Salehi and use the hashtag #FreeToomaj. Making noise might not change the outcome of the case but we know that solidarity can have a huge impact on the emotional wellbeing of dissidents and their families.
Salehi’s case is top of the Index priority list. Still, we have been keeping a close eye on the USA, where academic freedom, free assembly and broader First Amendment rights are being put to the test. While we have seen instances of hate speech directed towards Jewish students – vile and unjustifiable – the overall picture being painted is one of police overreach and brutality. There are too many disturbing scenes by now but let me highlight one – a CNN video of Professor Caroline Fohlin from Emory University in Atlanta being hurled to the ground and handcuffed. She had simply asked the police “What are you doing?” after she came across the violent arrest of a protester on campus.
There are immediate concerns for free speech here. Beyond these are two longer term ones. Firstly that this is part of a broader pattern of less tolerance towards protest across the world. We’ve seen it in the UK in the form of legislation restricting where and how people can protest, which has also led to an overzealous police force who arrest campaigners before their protests even start. Secondly that this will provide perfect justification for Trump, should he be re-elected, to further crack down on rights. “Look”, he’ll say, “Biden’s administration did it too”.
We’ve read a lot of good, thoughtful articles this week about the protests, such as this from Slate talking to Columbia students about the situation on the ground, this from Robert Reich on the free speech implications (he argues universities should actively encourage debate and disagreement) and this from Sam Kahn on what it feels like to be Jewish in the USA right now (he takes issue with what he terms a “nothing-to-see-here je ne sais quoi” approach to the protests). We also had an NYU professor, Susie Linfield, commenting late last year here. Do take a read. It feels slightly like wading through treacle right now – it’s easy to get stuck on one argument and then stuck on a totally different one. So we should take a step back and that step back for me came from the Gazan-American Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib when he commented on what was happening at the University of Texas Austin:
“Regardless of what you think of pro-Palestine protesters, attacking students (and a cameraman) during a peaceful assembly is shameful and wrong. This will inspire even more protests and further inflame a really difficult and an impossible situation. Absent acts of violence, harassment, or destruction of property, students have a right to freedom of expression. We cannot lose sight of that.”
Whether in the USA or Iran we stand by peaceful protesters and we will always call out those who seek to silence them.