Iran’s supreme court has ordered the retrial of a Kurdish rapper who was reportedly sentenced to death over protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death, the judiciary said Saturday.
Protests have gripped Iran since the September 16 death of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin, after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s dress code for women.
Iran this month executed two people in connection with the protests. It has sentenced another 11 people to death. One of them, Mahan Sadrat, secured a retrial earlier this week.
On Saturday the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said the Kurdish rapper Saman Seydi — also known as Saman Yasin — and another protester, Mohammad Ghobadlou, would be retried.
Hours later, however, Mizan issued a new statement from the supreme court that said Ghobadlou’s appeal had been rejected and confirmed his sentence. It did not elaborate.
Rights groups outside Iran have said Seydi and Ghobadlou had been facing the death penalty based on accusations of involvement in the protests.
Mizan did not specify the verdicts, but confirmed both were charged with offences punishable by death.
Ghobadlou was charged in Tehran with “corruption on earth” for “attacking police with a car, which resulted in the death of one officer and the injury of five others
