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.



Kremlin Says No Date Yet for Iranian President’s Visit to Russia

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian attends a press conference in Tehran, Iran, September 16, 2024. WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Majid Asgaripour via Reuters
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian attends a press conference in Tehran, Iran, September 16, 2024. WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Majid Asgaripour via Reuters
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Kremlin Says No Date Yet for Iranian President’s Visit to Russia

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian attends a press conference in Tehran, Iran, September 16, 2024. WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Majid Asgaripour via Reuters
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian attends a press conference in Tehran, Iran, September 16, 2024. WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Majid Asgaripour via Reuters

A visit to Russia by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is being prepared, but there is no clarity yet on when it will take place, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

Peskov said it was unclear whether the visit would happen this year, but that a date for the trip could be agreed very quickly if necessary.

"Such a visit is being prepared, preparations are underway," Peskov told reporters at a daily briefing when asked about the matter.

Moscow is preparing to sign a new bilateral treaty with Tehran that will include closer defense cooperation, the kind of treaty that Russian President Vladimir Putin often signs in person with his foreign counterparts.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state television in late October the treaty would be signed "in the near future".

Moscow signed a similar "comprehensive" treaty with North Korea, which includes a mutual defense clause, in June.

Military ties between Moscow and Tehran are a source of concern to the West as Russia prosecutes its war in Ukraine and turns to allies like Tehran for support.

President Vladimir Putin and Pezeshkian discussed the escalating situation in Syria by phone on Monday, with the latter vowing cooperation with Moscow to help resolve the crisis.