Iranian Protest Rapper Salehi Arrested Again

Prominent Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi was rearrested in the northern city of Babol, less than two weeks after his release from more than a year in captivity.

According to reports shared on Salehi's social media accounts, the singer was detained by armed plainclothes agents on November 30 and taken to an undisclosed location. 

The judiciary’s Mizan news agency said that he is accused of “publishing false information and disturbing public opinion.”

Salehi, 32, was initially arrested in October 2022 after making public statements in support of nationwide protests that had erupted the previous month.

His detention sparked widespread condemnation in Iran and abroad, and prompted international campaigns calling for his release.

Despite that, a court sentenced him to six years and three months in prison in July on a charge of “corruption on Earth.” 

He was freed on bail on November 18 after the Supreme Court returned his case to a lower court.

The artist had spent nearly 13 months in custody, including 252 days in solitary confinement.

In a video published on his YouTube channel on November 27, Salehi said that he neither admitted guilt nor cooperated with the security forces, despite the torture and other ill-treatment he endured while in custody.

"They tortured me for a prolonged time, striking me on the head and face, and even breaking my arm and leg," he says, adding that his jailers most probably injected him with adrenaline to keep him conscious in order to subject him to more torture.