Iran’s Islamic supreme court has accepted an appeal by rapper Saman Yasin against his death sentence even as it confirmed the same sentence against another protester.
Yasin, a well-known and acclaimed Kurdish artist and rapper, has been a vocal critic of the Iranian regime amid the current unrest. He wrote messages of support for protesters on his social media channels and has written several protest songs.
He had been accused of attempting to kill security forces, setting a rubbish bin on fire and shooting three times into the air during anti-government protests, charges which he denied.
Yasin’s mother last week pleaded in a video for help to save her son. “Where in the world have you seen a loved one’s life is taken for a trash bin?” she said in the video posted on social media.
The court had initially said it had accepted the appeals of Yasin and another protester, but in a subsequent statement the judiciary’s Mizan news agency said only Yasin’s appeal had been accepted.
“The public relations of the supreme court of Iran has corrected its news: ‘The appeal of Mohammad Qobadloo has not been accepted … Saman Seydi’s appeal has been accepted by the supreme court,” the agency said.
Explaining the decision in its original statement, it cited flaws in investigating the case and said it had been referred back to the court for re-examination.
Qobadloo had been charged with killing a police agent and injuring five others with his car during the protests.
Unrest erupted across Iran in mid-September after the death in custody of Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by morality police enforcing the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.
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