![](\"https:\/\/iransos.com\/en\/photo\/2011\/t\/toomaj-salehi.png\")
Mon July 10, 2023 – By Celine Alkhaldi, Jomana Karadsheh and Adam Pourahmadi, CNN-Dissident Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, arrested last October for supporting the protest movement in Iran last year, has been sentenced to six years and three months in prison, his official Twitter page said Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cToomaj Salehi was sentenced to 6 years and 3 months in prison, and after 252 days of solitary confinement, transferred to the general section of the prison,\u201d the tweet said.<\/p>\n
The rapper, 32, was previously charged with crimes that are punishable by death, including \u201cpropagandistic activity against the government, cooperation with hostile governments and forming illegal groups with the intention of creating insecurity in the country,\u201d Iranian state media IRNA had previously reported.<\/p>\n
Salehi\u2019s lawyer, Reza Etemad Ansari, told Iranian daily newspaper Shargh on Monday that the rapper was \u201cacquitted of insulting the Supreme Leader and cooperation with hostile governments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ansari told Shargh the rapper will be \u201cbanned from leaving the country for two years, and his passport will be revoked\u201d adding that the rapper will be \u201cbanned from any activity, preparation and production of music and singing work for two years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Salehi\u2019s uncle, Iqbal Iqbali, said in a statement Monday that his nephew has been \u201cunjustly imprisoned for six and a half years\u201d and thanked supporters who have taken steps for the rapper\u2019s release.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour Toomaj, Iran\u2019s Toomaj, the world\u2019s Toomaj, and our Toomaj was unjustly imprisoned for six and a half years. May he and all of our political prisoners be released,\u201d Iqbali said. \u201cThank you to all dear ones who have taken steps for the release of Toomaj and for the release of our political prisoners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Salehi had expressed support online and in his songs for a wave of nationwide protests that were triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who died on September 16 after being detained by \u201cmorality police\u201d and taken to a \u201cre-education center,\u201d allegedly for not wearing her hijab properly.<\/p>\n
When nationwide protests started in mid-September last year, Salehi called for Iranians to protest against the government.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cNone of us have different color blood,\u201d Salehi posted on Instagram. \u201cDon\u2019t forget our amazing union and do not allow them to create division between us, in this bloody and sad heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n
Salehi, who himself is of Bakhtiari ethnic background, has long rapped about Iran\u2019s multi-ethnic makeup, encouraging unity among Iranians of different ethnic backgrounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cStand with us, we stood by you for years,\u201d Salehi raps in his song \u201cMeydoone jang\u201d which translates as \u201cThe Battlefield.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not enough to be rebellious, we have revolutionary roots. Arab, Assyrian, Armenian, Turkmen, Mazandari, Sistani, Baluch, Talysh, Tatar, Azeri, Kurd, Gilaki, Lor, Farsi and Qashqai, we are the unity of rivers: we are the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mon July 10, 2023 – By Celine Alkhaldi, Jomana Karadsheh and Adam Pourahmadi, CNN-Dissident Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, arrested last October for supporting the protest movement in Iran last year,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[551,575],"class_list":["post-1975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-iran-protest-22","tag-toomaj-salehi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1975"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1977,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975\/revisions\/1977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}