Sting and Coldplay sign statement against Iranian rapper’s death penalty

NOS News•today, 1:48 PM

Prominents from the international cultural sector, including Sting and Coldplay, have signed a statement calling for the release of Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi. He has been sentenced to death in Iran for his role in the 2022 anti-government protests.

Salehi was arrested because he expressed support for the protest movement in his music. The death of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini sparked months of protests, which the regime cracked down on. The woman died after being violently arrested for allegedly wearing her headscarf too loosely.

Salehi initially avoided the death penalty and was sentenced to six years in prison. But last month a court imposed the death penalty on him.

The artists and others from the cultural sector demand in the joint statement that the death sentence be “immediately and unconditionally annulled” and that the rapper be released. The signatories also want all charges against Salehi to be dropped.

The statement was drawn up by interest group Index on Censorship and is supported by, among others, writer Margaret Atwood, singer Jade Thirlwall of pop group Little Mix, poet Sir Ben Okri and several human rights activists.

“As artists, musicians, writers and leading cultural figures, we stand in solidarity with Toomaj Salehi,” the statement said. “Art should have the ability to criticize, provoke, question and challenge authority. That is both our right and our obligation as artists.”