Iranian rapper sentenced to death for 'writing protest slogans on walls'

Jerusalem Post/Middle East/Iran NewsThe 22-year-old musician was issued the death sentence on charge of “waging war against God through participation in the destruction of public property,” among other charges.Follow us on GoogleIranians residing in Armenia hold a demonstration in solidarity with Iranian protestors, outside the Iranian embassy in Yerevan on January 15, 2026.(photo credit: KAREN MINASYAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)ByDANIELLE GREYMAN-KENNARDJULY 29, 2026 13:11Persian-language rapper Mahnam Navab Safavi was sentenced to death last week by a Revolutionary Court in Isfahan, according to human rights organizations and diaspora media reports.The 22-year-old musician was issued the death sentence on the charges of “waging war against God through participation in the destruction of public property,” as well as “propaganda against the establishment” and “assembly and collusion.”The court heard that Safavi’s destruction of public property was his "writing protest slogans on walls,” according to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.A source told Iran International that Navab Safavi’s two lawyers were refused access to his case file and denied any opportunity to defend him. His trial was also held in absentia, though Safavi remains in Iran, in detention in Isfahan Central Prison.In December, Safavi’s official social media account made a post where it was declared he intended to join the protests.Fires are lit as protesters rally on January 8, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. Demonstrations have been ongoing since December, triggered by soaring inflation and the collapse of the rial, and have expanded into broader demands for political change. (credit: Anonymous/Getty Images)Musicians frequently targeted by Islamic Republic“Until further notice, I, for my part, will be joining the strike and solidarity of the Iranian people, both in real and virtual form, and I will not be active in virtual form,” he wrote.Musicians have been frequently targeted in the Islamic Republic, even in the years before the January unrest. Toomaj Salehi, an Iranian rapper who frequently sings about social issues plaguing Iran, was issued a death sentence that has now been overturned after he released a song about Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian-Kurdish woman murdered by the regime’s security forces after she was detained for wearing her hijab incorrectly.More recently, Iranian female singers and the musicians and production team members who support them have been sentenced to flogging for their performances.Parastoo Ahmadi, a 29-year-old Iranian folk and traditional singer, was sentenced by the Qom Provincial Criminal Court to 74 lashes, a two-year travel ban, and a two-year ban on artistic activities after she and her band were prosecuted for “offending public decency” following the publication of a video on her YouTube channel showing her performing without a hijab.Anita Papist, a Tehran-based singer, received the same sentence of 74 lashes and confiscation of her passport and phone, solely for posting social media videos of herself singing in English and Persian without a head covering. Follow us on Google