The 'Tatlitis' on Khamenei's Page

It has been almost three weeks since the house arrest of the leaders of the Green Movement reached 2000 days. A number of notes on websites, statuses on Facebook, tweets on Twitter, and posts on Instagram and Telegram were all that supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard could do for them. The unfavorable situation of political and ideological prisoners, imprisoned workers and teachers, or even the execution of about 20 prisoners in one day also faced more or less similar reactions. However, the situation is different for Amir Tataloo and his numerous supporters, who are known as 'Tatlitis' by him. For the first time, they turned the Instagram page attributed to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic into a place for their significant presence. This so-called underground Iranian singer was arrested on Tuesday, August 23. Less than 24 hours later, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's 'page' on Instagram witnessed an unprecedented flood of comments supporting Amir Tataloo and calling for his release. Tataloo's supporters, most of whom are teenagers, wrote about the 'innocence' of their beloved singer in these comments and asked the Supreme Leader to free him. With over 3.2 million followers, Amir Tataloo is one of the most popular Iranian figures on the internet. One of the posts from the office of the Supreme Leader on Instagram has hundreds of comments defending Amir Tataloo underneath it: Majid Mohammadi, a sociologist, says that many teenagers and young people in Iran are more in search of individual freedoms than political freedoms, and the government consciously fuels this situation. Mr. Mohammadi tells Radio Farda: 'The government's effort is to divert people's attention from political freedoms and issues like law and corruption to everyday social issues, especially the margins related to artists and athletes.' This sociologist further explains: 'Firstly, the relatively political society of Iran seven or eight years ago has become non-political. Secondly, Mr. Khamenei's office is also trying to give space to currents that display the openness of social space while still being controlled by this office. That is why the numerous comments defending Amir Tataloo on Mr. Khamenei's Instagram page have not been censored. In the end, many artists and athletes have realized that they must play a dual role. On one hand, they should be underground singers, and on the other hand, they should become a propaganda tool for the government to stir the national pride of society.' One of the photos published on Amir Tataloo's Instagram page after his arrest: Amir Tataloo, whose full name is Amir Hossein Maghsadloo, can be considered one of the phenomena of underground music in Iran over the past decade, singing in pop, rap, and R&B styles. He raps with a body full of tattoos and also participates in mourning ceremonies during Muharram. Although Amir Tataloo is recognized as an underground singer and does not have an official license to operate, after several arrests in recent years, he was allowed to sing a song called 'Nuclear Energy' on the deck of the Jamaran destroyer of the Iranian Navy, stating that 'nuclear energy is our inalienable right.' This underground singer has also written several posts on his Instagram defending the Supreme Leader and expressing his admiration for him. A post defending Islamic hijab has also been one of his controversial Instagram posts. Amir Tataloo's Instagram page stated that this singer was severely beaten during his arrest. An audio file has also been released with his voice, in which he says he was summoned to the prosecutor's office on charges of encouraging youth towards corruption and prostitution. It has been reported on websites and social media, including Amir Tataloo's Instagram page, that he was beating himself during his court appearance, claiming that because he has many fans, they cannot deal with him. Perhaps the posts that this underground singer has written in defense of the Supreme Leader have motivated his numerous supporters to storm Mr. Khamenei's Instagram page and demand Amir Tataloo's release.