Human rights activists, alongside 100 music artists, including Sting and Coldplay, are calling for the release of Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, who has been sentenced to death for supporting mass protests in Iran in the autumn of 2022.

“Salehi’s death sentence is the culmination of three years of judicial harassment including arrest, imprisonment, and torture,” the petition from the London-based organisation Index on Censorship said.

The singer has drawn attention to the human rights situation in Iran in many of his songs.

In October 2023, Salehi was honoured with a Freedom of Expression Award by Index on Censorship.

“Art must be allowed to criticise, to provoke, to question, and to challenge authority,” the signatories said, adding: “No artist should be subjected to any kind of judicial harassment for exercising their right to freedom of expression, much less be sentenced to death.”

Salehi’s death sentence was announced at the end of April.

The news sparked outrage in Iran and other countries around the world.

Authorities decided in connection with Salehi’s support for the mass protests in Iran in autumn 2022.

In the past, the rapper criticised social and political issues in the country with his lyrics.

Composer and pianist Tamara Barschak called on other artists to join the petition.

“The fact that this poor musician is facing execution for expressing his beliefs is appalling,” Barschak told the Guardian newspaper, adding that everyone should be talking about this.

A signatory of the statement, Elli Brazzill from the UK-based campaign group Art Not Evidence, said protest music had been censored worldwide for thousands of years, “but to be sentenced to death for it is just unimaginable.” 

(dpa/NAN)