Iran's Judiciary Announces Cancellation of Additional Punishments for Shervin Hajipour

Iran's Judiciary announced that the additional punishments for Shervin Hajipour, the singer of the song "Baraye," have been revoked. Its spokesperson stated that if he expresses "remorse" and wishes to proceed through retrial or the powers of the Judiciary Chief, there is room for that. The Judiciary's media office announced the removal of the additional punishments on Tuesday, August 7, in response to a note by Abbas Abdi published in the August 5 issue of the newspaper "Etemad," which stated that some judicial rulings and punishments, including that of Shervin Hajipour, have negative repercussions in society. According to the Judiciary, one of the branches of the Mazandaran Court of Appeals reviewed Hajipour's objection to the court's ruling and revoked the additional punishments because they were deemed inappropriate for the defendant and society. The additional punishments for the Grammy-winning singer included a two-year travel ban from Iran, gathering the achievements of the 1979 Revolution and publishing them online, summarizing several books, and creating music against the United States. Additionally, the Judiciary explained that half of Shervin Hajipour's prison sentence has also been suspended. Meanwhile, Asghar Jahangir, the spokesperson for the Iranian Judiciary, stated on Tuesday regarding the review of the final rulings against the singer that the review of final rulings occurs in two specific ways: retrial and the opinion of the Judiciary Chief. He mentioned that Hajipour or his lawyers have not yet registered any request for retrial in the Supreme Court. Jahangir added, "If he is remorseful and wishes to act through retrial or the powers of the Judiciary Chief, there is room for that. If no request is made, the ruling will be executed." Shervin Hajipour, who was sentenced to prison and additional punishments for creating and singing the song "Baraye," stated on August 1 that the three years and eight months of imprisonment issued against him had been confirmed by the appeals court. The song "Baraye" was performed and published by Shervin Hajipour in the early days following the nationwide protests of 2022, and shortly after, he was arrested and sent to prison, but was temporarily released from prison later that year.