Iranian rapper released from jail after death sentence annulled

Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi has been released from prison after he was sentenced to death for protesting against the regime of the country. 

According to Mizan news agency, Salehi was released from custody on December 1 after he completed his one-year sentence. 

Salehi had been sentenced to death in April by a revolutionary court on charges linked to unrest in the country from 2022 to 2023, although Iran's Supreme Court overturned that sentence in June.

His music supported protests after the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in September 2022 after she was taken into custody for wearing the hijab “improperly”, going against Iran’s dress code, according to Sky News.

The protests following Amini’s death were massive and Salehi was one of “the leaders of the riots who promoted violence", said Iran International at the time.

He was taken to prison in October 2022 after publicly supporting the nationwide protests.

The next year, he was sentenced to six years in captivity but then he was briefly released on bail before being arrested on further charges.

Then in 2024, he was sentenced to death in April 2024.

People in Spain, France, Germany, America, Australia and London turned to the streets in protest wearing masks of his face.

In May, more than 100 artists including Coldplay and author of “The Handmaid’s Tale” Margaret Atwood, signed a joint statement demanding Salehi to be released from prison.

"We stand in solidarity with Toomaj Salehi," the statement read.

"No artist should be subject to any kind of judicial harassment for exercising their right to freedom of expression, much less be sentenced to death,” it added.