Iranian security agents in the city of Isfahan arrested the popular rapper Toomaj Salehi for his songs highlighting corruption within the Islamic Republic’s regime.
Salehi’s uncle Eghbal Eghbali announced on Instagram the arrest of Salehi, writing, “They arrested my nephew... The Islamic government cannot stand the voice of protest of dissident youth. We will not be indifferent to this dirty action of the rulers.”
Salehi wrote lyrics criticizing the Iranian regime in two new songs titled “Normal Life” and “Mouse Hole.”
The arrest of Salehi electrified Iranians and human rights activists on social media, prompting the Twitter hashtag #FreeToomaj.
The UAE-based news outlet Al Arabiya reported that shortly before the rapper was arrested, Salehi wrote on his Twitter account that he faced arrest: “Well, comrades, I keep my phone away because they probably have my location through this. Don’t worry, I won’t let them arrest me because we have a lot to do with them! I will get a secure phone in a few days.”
He wrote in a second tweet, “You should know that I am not afraid of death, imprisonment and torture. What I fear is to see women sell their bodies out of want and shut my mouth. I am afraid of watching people bend into the trash bin up to their waist [to find food] but remain silent; to see you beat a worker and stay quiet; to witness your killing of a protester and torturing of his justice-seeking family, and shut up.... There’s a sea of blood between you and me.”
Sheina Vojoudi, an Iranian dissident who fled the Islamic Republic, told The Jerusalem Post, “Toomaj Salehi became popular with his rap song about the Iran-China 25-year agreement. Iranians desperately asked the nation’s artists to be their voice and raise public awareness about this agreement.
“Toomaj did it with his rap,” she said. “He rapped the truth and became popular. He continued to be the voice of the oppressed Iranians, especially the political prisoners and impoverished people. In his songs, Toomaj criticized the systematic corruption in the Islamic Republic. He mentioned the exact crimes being committed by the regime and because of the regime’s incompetency such as organ/child trafficking, forced prostitution due to poverty, and the crimes that the regime’s officials and their children commit with Iranians’ stolen wealth.”
Salehi’s rap music and social criticism targeted Iran’s 25-year agreement with China’s Communist Party for its alleged betrayal of Iranian interests. Many Iranian opponents of the agreement say it will ruin Iran’s environment and that workers will lose their jobs.
Vojoudi added, “In several songs, he talks about Iran being occupied, colonized and isolated. In his song ‘Soorakh Mush Bekhar’ (‘Buy a Mouse Hole’), he also exposes the regime’s lobbyists/journalists and the fake human rights activists and emphasizes that being silent about the regime’s crimes against humanity is also a crime.
“Persian rap is very popular among the young Iranian generation, and Toomaj is giving them the information the regime doesn’t want them to be aware of,” she said. “Undoubtedly, Toomaj is under torture. Now the world has a clear vision of what can happen to him after seeing the leaked video footage from Evin Prison. We must save him.”
The Post identified a Twitter account in Salehi’s name but it is no longer active, presumably due to his arrest. Tehran bars Iranians from access to Twitter. Only leading Iranian regime officials are allowed to use the social media giant.
“Without your apologism, this regime is incomplete,” Salehi noted in one song criticizing the National Iranian American Council, a Washington-based NGO, Al Arabiya reported.
Voice of America journalist and women’s rights campaigner, Masih Alinejad tweeted, “His name is @ToomajSalehi. This Iranian rapper sang about poverty, resistance, workers’ situation, the regime’s lobbies in the West, and many problems in the country. He has just been arrested by the regime. Be his voice. #FreeToomaj.”