Iranian Rapper Toomaj Salehi Released after Death Sentence Overturned

 People walk on the Keshavarz Boulevard in Tehran on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
People walk on the Keshavarz Boulevard in Tehran on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Iranian Rapper Toomaj Salehi Released after Death Sentence Overturned

 People walk on the Keshavarz Boulevard in Tehran on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
People walk on the Keshavarz Boulevard in Tehran on November 26, 2024. (AFP)

Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi was released from prison on Dec. 1 after completing a one-year sentence for speaking out against the Iranian regime, the Iranian judiciary's Mizan news agency reported early on Monday.

Salehi had been sentenced to death in April by a revolutionary court on charges linked to unrest in the country from 2022 to 2023, although Iran's Supreme Court overturned that sentence in June.

His songs eulogized months-long protests sparked by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman arrested for allegedly wearing an "improper" headscarf that flouted Iran's religious dress code.

Salehi was arrested in October 2022 after making public statements in support of the nationwide protests.

Amini's death in September 2022 unleashed protests that posed the biggest challenge to the Iran’s clerical leaders in decades.

A United Nations fact-finding mission said in March that Amini's death was unlawful and was caused by "physical violence in the custody of state authorities". It added that Iranian women still suffer systematic discrimination.



Guinea Stadium Crush Kills 56 People after Disputed Refereeing Decision

People scramble in Nzerekore, Guinea, where local officials said a deadly stampede ensued at a stadium following fan clashes during a soccer match, December 1, 2024, in this still image obtained from a social media video. Social media via Reuters
People scramble in Nzerekore, Guinea, where local officials said a deadly stampede ensued at a stadium following fan clashes during a soccer match, December 1, 2024, in this still image obtained from a social media video. Social media via Reuters
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Guinea Stadium Crush Kills 56 People after Disputed Refereeing Decision

People scramble in Nzerekore, Guinea, where local officials said a deadly stampede ensued at a stadium following fan clashes during a soccer match, December 1, 2024, in this still image obtained from a social media video. Social media via Reuters
People scramble in Nzerekore, Guinea, where local officials said a deadly stampede ensued at a stadium following fan clashes during a soccer match, December 1, 2024, in this still image obtained from a social media video. Social media via Reuters

A controversial refereeing decision sparked violence and a crush at a football match in southeast Guinea, killing 56 people according to a provisional toll, the government said on Monday.

The fatalities occurred during the final of a tournament in honor of Guinea's military leader Mamady Doumbouya at a stadium in Nzerekore, one of the nation's largest cities.

Some fans threw stones, triggering panic and a crush, the government statement said, promising an investigation.

A video authenticated by Reuters showed dozens of people scrambling over high walls to escape.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an official from the city's administration said many victims were minors caught in the turmoil after police started firing tear gas. The official described scenes of confusion and chaos with some parents retrieving bodies before they were officially counted.

Videos and pictures shared online showed victims lined up on the ground. In one video, over a dozen inert bodies could be seen, several of them children.

Reuters was not immediately able to verify that footage.

Opposition group National Alliance for Change and Democracy said authorities bore responsibility for organizing tournaments to bolster political support for Doumbouya in contravention of a transition charter prior to a promised presidential election.

There was no immediate response from the military junta to that accusation.