Mowlavi Abdolhamid's Reaction to the Death Sentence for Tomaj Salehi: 'Do Not Kill People for Speaking'

In response to the widespread reactions to the death sentence issued for Tomaj Salehi, Mowlavi Abdolhamid, a Sunni cleric critical of the government, criticized the ruling, stating: 'Do not kill people for speaking.' In his Friday prayer sermon in Zahedan on April 26, he described the number of executions over the past 1400 years since the advent of Islam as 'unprecedented' and said: 'Tomaj Salehi has neither taken a hostage, nor committed robbery, nor killed anyone. He is a poet and an artist who has spoken out.' Mowlavi Abdolhamid addressed the Islamic Republic's authorities, saying: 'Do not label people as enemies for speaking' and 'do not kill them for their words.' Gohar Eshghi, the mother of the justice-seeker Sattar Beheshti, also referred to Tomaj Salehi as 'the child of Iran' in a message on X, stating: 'Khamenei the bloodthirsty wants to silence voices and turn Iran into a large graveyard.' The first branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Isfahan tried Tomaj Salehi, a dissenting singer, on charges of 'assembly and collusion, and complicity in rebellion' on Thursday, April 19. Tomaj Salehi, imprisoned in the Dastgerd prison in Isfahan, has rejected the charges and deemed the court 'illegal,' stating that his trial was conducted 'not based on law, but at the request of intelligence agencies.' Protest graffiti in support of Tomaj Salehi in Tabriz; 'Death to Khamenei.' A group of Iranians gathered in Orange County in support of Tomaj Salehi. The High Commissioner for Human Rights criticized the 'suppression' of women in Iran and called for the release of Tomaj Salehi. Activists and teachers' organizations reacted to the death sentence for Tomaj Salehi, stating that the government's disgraceful record is becoming darker every day.