The family of an Iranian dissident rapper is fearful for his life, saying the regime is trying to charge him with a crime that carries the death penalty.
Toomaj Salehi, 32, has heavily criticized the Islamic Republic through his lyrics and was arrested last month amid the ongoing protests and violent crackdowns in the country. The underground rapper, known by his first name, was also actively supporting the protests in Iran, releasing music, sending messages of support and even showing up on the streets himself.
Toomaj's cousin, Azadeh Babadi, who is based in London, told CBC News she believes the rapper will not receive due process.
Babadi said the family believes the judiciary plans to charge Toomaj with being a mohareb — meaning someone who "wages war against God." These are charges that under Iran's Islamic Sharia law result in a death sentence and subsequent execution.
The regime in Iran has a long history of accusing dissidents of being "moharebs," said Toronto-based lawyer and human rights activist Kaveh Shahrooz.
"Such a charge, and the fact that it carries a penalty of death, is hard to comprehend for many Westerners, because it seems so medieval. And it is. It speaks to the fact that Iran's regime has a mindset belonging to the dark ages," Shahrooz said.
Toomaj used his social media influence to encourage protesters not to give up the streets and join strikes to topple the regime, although he had already been arrested once before. He also taught them ways to circumvent internet censorship. He was never allowed to release his music in Iran or hold concerts and connected with his fans only through online platforms such as YouTube.
Official Toomaj , the Twitter account which is now run by an administrator based outside Iran, refuted the claim saying he was arrested in his home province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province which is not anywhere near the border areas.
“We will come to the streets, every day and night, until Iran is freed. The streets are ours, we will take them back from you,” Official Toomaj defiantly quoted one of his songs in a tweet after his arrest.
Toomaj’s London-based cousin Azadeh Babadi told Iran International Monday that the family have found out he is being severely tortured to denounce the youth movement against the clerical rule.
“He knew he would be arrested but refused to leave the country,” Babadi said via video link, adding that she had warned him about his safety in Iran and offered to help him get a visa to join her in London. The family want all Iranians to know that Toomaj believes they can only succeed in restoring the rights denied to them by remaining on the streets and continuing the protests to bring the regime down, she said.
"We will rise from the bottom and target the top of the pyramid,” Toomaj’s latest song released last week says and promises protesters’ victory over the Islamic Republic.
“We’re definitely far behind other countries.”
Almasi and other campaigners are calling on the government to:
Impose targeted sanctions on Iranian officials, including freezing financial assets and issuing visa bans to stop them entering Australia;
Push for Iran’s removal from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women;
Designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation; and
Expel the Iranian ambassador from Canberra.
The United States, United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union have implemented targeted sanctions on Iranian individuals responsible for the recent violence against protesters, but the Australian government has not.
“This is both inexplicable and embarrassing to Australia’s stature on the world stage as a country which professes to care about human rights,” she said in a submission to the inquiry.
Moore-Gilbert said she suspected officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) opposed targeted sanctions because they want to negotiate the release of innocent Australian citizens detained in Iranian prisons.
“We simply cannot allow the consular cases of a handful of wrongfully detained Australians to dictate Australia’s response to Iran’s violations of human rights on a mass scale,” Moore-Gilbert said, describing this as a form of “diplomatic blackmail”.
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