Iranian court sentences pop star Tataloo to death for blasphemy

Amir Hossein Maghsoudloo’s five-year jail term increased after prosecutor’s objection, according to reports

An Iranian court has sentenced the popular singer Amir Hossein Maghsoudloo, known as Tataloo, to death on appeal after he was convicted of blasphemy, according to local media reports.

“The supreme court accepted the prosecutor’s objection” to a previous five-year jail term on offences including blasphemy, the reformist newspaper Etemad reported on Sunday.

It said “the case was reopened, and this time the defendant was sentenced to death for insulting the prophet”, referring to Islam’s prophet Muhammad.

The report added that the verdict was not final and could still be appealed against.

The 37-year-old underground musician had been living in Istanbul since 2018 before Turkish police handed him over to Iran in December 2023.

He has been in detention in Iran since then.

Tataloo had also been sentenced to 10 years for promoting “prostitution” and in other cases was charged with disseminating “propaganda” against the Islamic Republic and publishing “obscene content”.

The heavily tattooed singer, known for combining rap, pop and R&B, was previously courted by conservative politicians as a way of reaching out to young, liberal-minded Iranians.

Tataloo even held an awkward televised meeting in 2017 with the ultra-conservative Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, who later died in a helicopter crash. In 2015, Tataloo published a song in support of Iran’s nuclear programme.

This article was amended on 20 January 2025 because an earlier version incorrectly said Iran’s nuclear programme “unravelled” in 2018.