Head of judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei
c/o Embassy of Iran to the European Union
Avenue Franklin Roosevelt No. 15, 1050
Bruxelles, Belgium

Mr Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei,

Rapper, Toomaj Salehi, 33, is at risk of execution after a Revolutionary Court in Esfahan province sentenced him to death in April 2024. He was convicted of “corruption on earth” (efsad fel arz) solely in relation to his participation in protests during the “Woman Life Freedom” uprising and his critical social media posts condemning the Iranian authorities’ oppression and executions and calling for human rights and freedom for the people of Iran. His appeal is pending before the Supreme Court.

The authorities arbitrarily arrested Toomaj Salehi on 30 October 2022 in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province and subjected him to enforced disappearance for a month by refusing to disclose his whereabouts to his family. He was transferred to a detention facility run by the Intelligence Organization of the Revolutionary Guards inside Esfahan central prison before being moved to the public ward after 252 days. After he was released on bail on 18 November 2023, he said in a video published on his YouTube page that he was tortured during arrest, including through repeated beatings, resulting in fractures in his hands and leg, and loss of consciousness for two days. He said agents injected him with an unidentified substance in his neck and subjected him to psychological torture, including solitary confinement for eight-nine months. An informed source also told Amnesty International that agents poured water over him and gave electric shocks to his feet; held a gun to his head and threatened to kill and bury him in a hole they dug in the ground; stomped on his chest; smashed his leg between a car door; and left him with an eye injury affecting his eyesight. He was re-arrested on 30 November 2023 and is imprisoned in Esfahan central prison. He continues to suffer from torture-related injuries, including pain in his leg and hands for which he needs surgery, but the authorities have denied him access to adequate medical care.

In July 2023, after a grossly unfair trial in which Toomaj Salehi was denied access to a lawyer for two months, he was convicted of six of the eight charges against him and sentenced to 18 years and nine months in prison and 40 lashes. In November 2023, the Supreme Court overturned this verdict, ruling to remove five of the eight charges against him, and referred the case back to Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Esfahan for retrial. In January 2024, the Revolutionary Court called the Supreme Court’s ruling “advisory” and ordered for a new indictment to be issued by the prosecution, retaining all the previous charges and adding two new ones, and in April 2024 sentenced him to death.

I call on you to halt any plans to execute Toomaj Salehi, quash his conviction and death sentence, and release him immediately and unconditionally, as he is held solely for the peaceful exercise of his human rights. Pending his release, provide him with adequate healthcare and regular visits with his family and lawyers; protect him from further torture and other ill-treatment; and order an independent, effective and impartial investigation into his torture allegations, bringing anyone suspected of criminal responsibility to justice in fair trials. I urge you to grant independent observers access to protest-related capital trials and immediately establish an official moratorium on executions with a view of abolishing the death penalty.

Yours sincerely,