(Bloomberg) -- A prominent Iranian hip hop musician who was arrested for his protest lyrics and social media posts has been sentenced to death by an Iranian court, the reformist Shargh newspaper reported. 

Toomaj Salehi was arrested in October 2022 during nationwide protests that were triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who had been arrested by so-called morality police for allegedly violating strict Islamic dress codes. 

Salehi will appeal the sentence, Shargh reported, quoting his lawyer Amir Raisian.

Salehi’s music and online posts were fiercely critical of Iran’s Islamic leadership and he was a strong supporter of the uprising, which was mostly led by women and young people.

His detention has been heavily criticized by the US government as well as several human rights groups including Amnesty International. 

Salehi was initially sentenced in July 2023 to more than six years in prison and charged with “corruption on Earth”, a crime that carries the death sentence under Iran’s Islamic laws. He was released in November 2023 for two weeks before being re-arrested on fresh charges. 

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