Two more well-known underground rappers in Iran were arrested this week as part of a sweeping campaign by the Islamic Republic to silence artists and dissidents amid the ongoing war with Israel.
Rapper/singer Danial Moghaddam and Mohammadreza Ehsani Sard were arrested this week as part of a sweeping campaign by the Islamic Republic to silence artists and dissidents amid the ongoing war with Israel.
Security forces reportedly detained both artists without warrants and transferred them to undisclosed locations, denying them access to legal counsel or family.
Their arrests come during a 12-day crackdown that has seen more than 700 people detained across the country, including activists, ethnic minorities, and relatives of protest victims.
According to human rights monitors, the government is using the current wartime climate to intensify repression.
“The regime is using the pretext of war to carry out a systematic purge of dissent,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). “If the international community remains silent, we will see mass state violence go unchecked.”
The Iranian parliament is also advancing a new espionage law that would allow executions for vaguely defined acts of dissent, including social media activity.
Human rights attorney Saeid Dehghan warned, “The regime’s attempt to pass new criminal laws with vague and overly broad provisions, laws that could impose the death penalty for legitimate civil activities or even for the use of social media, represents a dangerous example of using law as a tool to legitimize repression.”
The arrests of Moghaddam and Sard mirror the fate of Toomaj Salehi, a prominent rapper who was rearrested on June 19, just months after Iran’s Supreme Court overturned his death sentence.
Salehi had previously been jailed for supporting the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests and was convicted of “corruption on Earth,” a charge often used against political dissidents. His current whereabouts remain unknown.
Meanwhile, Tataloo, born Amir Hossein Maghsoudloo, is facing execution after Iran’s judiciary upheld a death sentence against him in May.
He was deported from Turkey in 2023 and convicted of “insulting Islamic sanctities,” among other charges.
The Iranian Supreme Court confirmed his sentence, and he is now awaiting execution in a Tehran prison.
The CHRI warned that the crackdown is expanding beyond artists to include social media users, academics, and ethnic minorities.
“Like a wounded animal, the Islamic Republic is going after every perceived threat in the country with deadly force,” said Ghaemi.
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