Index on Censorship weekly round-up
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Friday, 26 April 2024
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The Iranian hip-hop artist and rapper Toomaj Salehi faces the death sentence
in Iran for daring to write lyrics criticising the authorities
Yes! Yes Sir! Life is normal
A labourer’s annual wage is worth a dinner abroad
Yes! Of course, Sir! Life is normal
We don’t dare say otherwise, in case we get in trouble
These are the opening lines of Toomaj Salehi's song Normal. Salehi did dare to say otherwise though and for that he did get in trouble. On Wednesday an Iranian revolutionary court sentenced him to death. The charge was “corruption on earth”. The only thing corrupt is Iran's regime.
For those unfamiliar with Salehi, he is a well-known Iranian hip-hop artist whose lyrics are infused with references to the human rights situation in Iran. He was an outspoken supporter of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. Last year, Index awarded Salehi a Freedom of Expression award in the Arts category ([link removed]) . Salehi donated his cash prize to victims of recent floods in Iran.
Because of his advocacy Salehi has faced continuous judicial harassment, including arrest and imprisonment. He has been in and out of prison since 2021. A moment of respite came in November 2023 when Iran’s Supreme Court struck down Salehi’s six-year prison sentence. The respite was short-lived. Just days after he was released from prison Salehi was rearrested upon uploading a video to YouTube documenting his treatment while in detention.
On 18 April 2024, Branch 1 of Isfahan’s Revolutionary Court held a new trial for Salehi where the court ultimately convicted Salehi and sentenced him to death. His lawyer alleged that the ruling had significant legal errors, including contradicting the Supreme Court verdict. He said that they will appeal the verdict. They only have 20 days.
Index has been in close contact with his family, as well as lawyers and other organisations who work in our field. We are shocked by the barbarity of this decision (please read our CEO Ruth Anderson's article ([link removed]) on what he means to us more personally here), as well as heartened by how the international community has pulled together. If you are on social media and have not yet engaged with his case, we have a small favour to ask - do please post about Salehi and use the hashtag #FreeToomaj. Making noise might not change the outcome of the case but we know that solidarity can have a huge impact on the emotional wellbeing of dissidents and their families.
Salehi’s case is top of the Index priority list. Still, we have been keeping a close eye on the USA, where academic freedom, free assembly and broader First Amendment rights are being put to the test. While we have seen instances of hate speech directed towards Jewish students - vile and unjustifiable - the overall picture being painted is one of police overreach and brutality. There are too many disturbing scenes by now but let me highlight one - a CNN video ([link removed]) of Professor Caroline Fohlin from Emory University in Atlanta being hurled to the ground and handcuffed. She had simply asked the police "What are you doing?" after she came across the violent arrest of a protester on campus.
There are immediate concerns for free speech here. Beyond these are two longer term ones. Firstly that this is part of a broader pattern of less tolerance towards protest across the world. We’ve seen it in the UK in the form of legislation restricting where and how people can protest, which has also led to an overzealous police force who arrest campaigners ([link removed]) before their protests even start. Secondly that this will provide perfect justification for Trump, should he be re-elected, to further crack down on rights. "Look", he’ll say, "Biden's administration did it too".
We’ve read a lot of good, thoughtful articles this week about the protests, such as this from Slate ([link removed]) talking to Columbia students about the situation on the ground, this from Robert Reich ([link removed]) on the free speech implications (he argues universities should actively encourage debate and disagreement) and this from Sam Kahn
([link removed]) on what it feels like to be Jewish in the USA right now (he takes issue with what he terms a "
nothing-to-see-here je ne sais quoi" approach to the protests). We also had an NYU professor, Susie Linfield, commenting late last year here ([link removed]) . Do take a read. It feels slightly like wading through treacle right now - it's easy to get stuck on one argument and then stuck on a totally different one. So we should take a step back and that step back for me came from the Gazan-American Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib when he commented on what was happening at the University of Texas Austin:
“Regardless of what you think of pro-Palestine protesters, attacking students (and a cameraman) during a peaceful assembly is shameful and wrong. This will inspire even more protests and further inflame a really difficult and an impossible situation. Absent acts of violence, harassment, or destruction of property, students have a right to freedom of expression. We cannot lose sight of that.”
Whether in the USA or Iran we stand by peaceful protesters and we will always call out those who seek to silence them.
Jemimah Steinfeld, editor-in-chief
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** Review | Storyteller: Photography
by Tim Hetherington
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Photojournalist Tim Hetherington died in Libya 13 years ago, fatally wounded by a mortar explosion while covering the country’s civil war for a project that would never be finished. A new exhibition at London's Imperial War Museum celebrates his important work. Read a review of the show here ([link removed]) .
** From the Index archives
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** Meeting the oldest protesters in town
by Lucia He
Winter 2017
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The streets of Argentina are filling with protesters too, this time to speak out against spending cuts to education introduced by new far right President Javier Milei (he has called universities bastions of socialism). Perhaps the protesters could take tips from the country's protesting grandmothers who, since 1977, have been looking for the more than 500 children who “disappeared” ([link removed]) during Argentina’s deadly military dictatorship (something Milei downplays too).
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** Thursday 2 May | The long reach: How authoritarian governments silence critics abroad
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Join Index on Censorship at the University of Exeter ([link removed]) for an evening discussing the growing – and worrying – trend of transnational repression. Transnational repression takes many forms: from UK residents being poisoned by Russian agents, to a Saudi dissident being murdered in Turkey, to a Polish art gallery being subject to attempted acts of censorship by Chinese diplomats, to UK-based BBC Persian journalists being threatened and harassed by Iranian authorities. Hong Kong activist Simon Cheng, John Heathershaw, Professor of International Relations at the University of Exeter, and Belarusian poet Hanna Komar join Index’s magazine Editor-in-chief, Jemimah Steinfeld, for a discussion about the extent and impact of states silencing their critics abroad and the fundamental right to free expression.
Get a free ticket here ([link removed]) .
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Index on Censorship defends people's freedom to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution. We publish censored writers and artists, monitor and campaign against censorship, and encourage debate.
We rely on donations from readers and supporters. By donating ([link removed]) to Index you help us to protect freedom of expression and to support those who are denied that right.
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