Iran rapper jailed over backing protests freed on bail

TEHRAN: Iranian authorities have released on bail a popular rapper jailed for more than a year over supporting nationwide protests sparked by Mahsa Amini´s death in custody, local media have reported.

Toomaj Salehi, 32, was arrested in October 2022 after publicly backing the wave of demonstrations which erupted a month earlier, triggered by the death of 22-year-old Amini, an Iranian Kurd, who had been taken into custody over an alleged breach of strict dress rules for women.

In July, Salehi was sentenced to six years in prison on charges of “corruption on earth” -- one of Iran´s most serious offences which carries a maximum penalty of death. The musician´s lawyer, Amir Raisian, told Iran´s reformist newspaper Shargh late on Saturday that upon appeal, the Supreme Court had found “flaws in the initial sentence” and ordered that Salehi be “released from prison today on bail”.