DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The tattoos protecting Iranian rapper Tataloo’s face stand out in opposition to the grey jail uniform the 37-year-old now wears as he awaits execution, his personal rise and fall tracing the chaos of the final decade of Iranian politics.
Tataloo, whose full title is Amir Hossein Maghsoudloo, faces a dying sentence after being convicted on expenses of “insulting Islamic sanctities.” It is a far cry from when he as soon as supported a hard-line Iranian presidential candidate.
Tataloo’s music turned fashionable among the many Islamic Republic’s youth, because it challenged Iran’s theocracy at a time when opposition to the nation’s authorities was splintered and largely leaderless.
The rapper’s lyrics turned more and more political after the 2022 dying of Mahsa Amini and the next wave of nationwide protests. He additionally appeared in music movies which criticized the authorities.
“Whenever you present your face in a music video, you might be saying, ‘Hey, I’m right here, and I don’t care about your restrictions,’” stated Ali Hamedani, a former BBC journalist who interviewed the rapper in 2005. “That was courageous.”
The Iranian Supreme Courtroom final month upheld his dying sentence.
“This ruling has now been confirmed and is prepared for execution,” judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir informed reporters at a press convention final month.
Activists have decried his looming execution and expressed concern for his security after he reportedly tried to kill himself in jail.
Tataloo started his music profession in 2003 as a part of an underground style of Iranian music that mixes Western kinds of rap, rhythm-and-blues and rock with Farsi lyrics. His first album, launched in 2011, polarized audiences, although he by no means performed publicly in Iran, the place its Ministry of Tradition and Islamic Steering controls all live shows.
Tataloo appeared in a 2015 music video backing Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and Tehran’s nuclear program, which lengthy has been focused by the West over fears it might permit the Islamic Republic to develop an atomic bomb. Whereas he by no means mentioned the motivation behind this, it appeared that the rapper had hoped to win favor with the theocracy or maybe have a journey ban in opposition to him lifted.
Within the video for “Power Hasteei,” or “Nuclear Power,” Tataloo sings an influence ballad in entrance of rifle-wielding guardsmen and later aboard the Iranian frigate Damavand within the Caspian Sea. The ship later sank throughout a storm in 2018.
“That is our absolute proper: To have an armed Persian Gulf,” Tataloo sang.
Tataloo even issued an endorsement for hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi in 2017. That 12 months, the 2 sat for a televised look as a part of Raisi’s failed presidential marketing campaign in opposition to the relative average Hassan Rouhani. Raisi later received the presidency in 2021, however was killed in a helicopter crash in 2024.
In 2018, Tataloo — who confronted authorized issues in Iran — was allowed to depart the nation for Turkey, the place many Persian singers and performers stage profitable live shows.
Tataloo hosted reside video periods as he rose to fame on social media, the place he turned well-known for his tattoos protecting his face and physique. Amongst them are an Iranian flag and a picture of his mom subsequent to a key and coronary heart.
Instagram deactivated his account in 2020 after he known as for underage ladies to hitch his “group” for intercourse. He additionally acknowledged taking medicine.
“Regardless of being a controversial rapper, Tataloo has fairly the fanbase in Iran, often called ‘Tatalities,’” stated Holly Dagres, a senior fellow on the Washington Institute for Close to-East Coverage. “Through the years, they’ve flooded social media with messages of solidarity for him and even campaigned for the rapper’s launch previously when he was detained on separate expenses.”
Tataloo’s rebellious music struck a chord with disenfranchised younger folks in Iran as they struggled to search out work, get married and begin their grownup lives. He additionally more and more challenged Iran’s theocracy in his lyrics, notably after the dying of Amini following her arrest over allegedly not sporting the hijab to the liking of authorities.
His collaboration “Enghelab Solh” — “Peace Revolution” in Farsi — known as out Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by title.
“We don’t need tear fuel, as a result of there are tears in everybody’s eyes,” he rapped.
However the music stopped for Tataloo in late 2023. He was deported from Turkey after his passport had expired, and was instantly taken into custody upon arrival to Iran.
Tehran’s Prison Courtroom initially handed Tataloo a five-year sentence for blasphemy. Iran’s Supreme Courtroom threw out the choice and despatched his case to a different court docket, which sentenced him to dying in January. The rapper already confronted ten years in jail for a string of separate convictions, together with selling prostitution and ethical corruption.
“Tataloo is at critical threat of execution,” Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of advocacy group Iran Human Rights, stated in a press release. “The worldwide neighborhood, artists and the general public should act to cease his execution.”
Tataloo earlier expressed regret at a trial.
“I’ve actually made errors, and plenty of of my actions had been mistaken,” he stated, in response to the state-owned Jam-e Jam each day newspaper. “I apologize for the errors I made.”
Tataloo married whereas on dying row, his uncle stated. Final month, Tataloo reportedly tried to kill himself, however survived.
His dying sentence comes at a politically fraught second for Iran because the nation is at it is “most remoted,” stated Abbas Milani, an Iran knowledgeable at Stanford College.
The Islamic Republic is “desperately attempting to see whether or not it could arrive at a cope with the U.S. on its nuclear program and have the sanctions lifted,” he stated. Drawing the ire of Tataloo’s followers is “one headache they don’t want,” he added.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story consists of dialogue of suicide. When you or somebody you understand wants assist, the nationwide suicide and disaster lifeline within the U.S. is offered by calling or texting 988. There’s additionally a web-based chat at 988lifeline.org.
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Related Press writers Jon Gambrell in Vienna and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
