Another Iranian Rapper Sentenced To Death For Protesting

Mahnam Navab Safavi, a 22-year-old Iranian rapper, has received a death sentence for writing protest slogans during January demonstrations.

Another rapper in Iran faces execution in Iran after a Revolutionary Court in Isfahan handed down a death sentence for his role in January’s nationwide protests.

Mahnam Navab Safavi, a 22-year-old Persian-language rapper, was convicted on charges of “waging war against God through participation in the destruction of public property.”

The court defined it as writing protest slogans on walls, as well as “propaganda against the establishment” and “assembly and collusion.”

His trial happened without him present, and his legal team couldn’t access the case file or mount any real defense.

Back in December, Safavi posted on social media that he’d be joining the strike and solidarity movement with the Iranian people both online and offline.

That commitment to resistance cost him everything.

He’s now locked up in Isfahan Central Prison with no clear path forward, joining a growing list of musicians the Islamic Republic has targeted for speaking out.

Safavi’s case echoes what happened to Toomaj Salehi, another Iranian rapper who received a death sentence for protest songs before Iran’s Supreme Court overturned it.

Another rapper, known as Tataloo, was sentenced to death by an Iranian court for allegedly “insulting the Prophet Mohammed,” a charge of blasphemy and promoting prostitution.

The regime’s crackdown on artists extends far beyond rappers.

Female singers like Parastoo Ahmadi and Anita Papist have been sentenced to 74 lashes each for performing without hijabs, with additional bans on travel and artistic work.

The pattern’s clear: the government’s using the courts to silence anyone with a platform and a message.

Safavi’s caught in a moment when the regime’s executing people from the Alikhani Square case, with four young men already put to death since July 19.

The machinery’s running, and he’s in its path.

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