توماج صالحی

Who he is

توماج صالحی (Tumâj Sâlehi), born 1990 in Shahin Shahr, Isfahan province, is an Iranian rapper. Before his arrest he worked metal-fabrication jobs while releasing tracks online; his lyrics, in colloquial street Persian saturated with Isfahani slang and political invective, attack regime corruption, IRGC profiteering, the morality police, the killing of protesters, and clerical hypocrisy. Tracks like موش مرده (mush-e morde, “dead mouse”) and سوراخ موش (surâkh-e mush, “the mouse hole”) were widely shared during the 2022 uprising.

What happened

Toomaj was arrested on 30 October 2022 in Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari province after he publicly backed the Woman-Life-Freedom protests. He was held in Isfahan Province intelligence detention. After his eventual release on bail in November 2023 he posted a video alleging severe torture during his initial detention: stress positions, beatings, broken fingers, a broken nose, forced televised confession scripts. Amnesty International corroborated the torture pattern. Days after the video he was re-arrested. In April 2024, the Isfahan Revolutionary Court sentenced him to death on the charge of محارب (mohâreb), “corruption on Earth.” The Iranian Supreme Court overturned the death sentence in June 2024, citing legal errors. He served the remaining one-year sentence on “propaganda against the system” and was released from Dastgerd Prison on 1 December 2024 after 753 days in custody.

What followed

Within weeks of release Toomaj was recording again. International legal counsel Caoilfhionn Gallagher of Doughty Street Chambers, who represented his family, called the release a hard-won outcome of sustained global pressure. Other charges against him remain pending; Iranian state media did not confirm whether new trials will follow. As of his release the state had taken more than two years of his life for the offense of writing rap lyrics.

How he’s remembered

Toomaj is one of the few cultural figures from inside Iran whom the diaspora and the in-country generation share equally as a hero. His Instagram release post on 1 December 2024 was one of the most-shared Iranian social-media items of that year. Coldplay’s Chris Martin sampled his vocals during a 2023 stadium tour. Diaspora-run radio stations in Los Angeles and Toronto play his catalog in heavy rotation. Inside Iran his tracks circulate on Telegram and via airdrop in places where Spotify is sanctions-blocked.

Cross-links

See Mahsa Amini, zan-zendegi-âzâdi, mohâreb, sepâh (IRGC), Etelâ’ât (MOIS), dâdgâh-e enqelâb.

Sources

• Iran International (1 Dec 2024): “Iranian dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi released from prison”
• CBS News (3 Dec 2024): release coverage with Doughty Street Chambers statement
• Euronews Culture (2 Dec 2024): release after death-sentence reversal
• Amnesty International (April 2024): “Iran: Imminent risk of execution for rapper Toomaj Salehi”
• BBC Persian (Nov 2023): Toomaj’s torture-testimony video

References

• Dehkhoda Lexicon
• Iran International release report
• CBS News (Dec 2024)
• Euronews Culture (Dec 2024)
• Amnesty International (April 2024)