An Iranian rapper snatched from his home after he voiced support for the ongoing protests has been sentenced to death by a notorious judge in the Islamic Republic.

Rapper and songwriter Saman Yasin – originally from Kermanshah – was taken against his will by security agents from his home in Tehran on 2nd October.

The 27-year-old’s ‘crime’ is believed to have been simply ‘supporting the protests’. He had voiced his support for the demonstrators on his social media pages.

In custody, he was allegedly subjected to physical and psychological torture.

The 15th branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court tried him without his family or even a lawyer present, according to an anonymous source who spoke to independent media.

In a single hearing, notorious judge Abolqasem Salavati – who is sanctioned by the EU and the US Treasury Department – sentenced him to death on 29th October.

Salavati has been accused of frequently handing lengthy jail terms, lashes, or death to journalists, lawyers, political activists, and ethnic and religious minorities.

In one notorious case in 2014, he sentenced a man named Mohsen Amiraslani to be hanged for “heresy because he rejected the tale of Jonah and the Whale”.

The anonymous source told anti-regime media that Saman’s family was threatened against talking about his death sentence.

The date of the rapper’s execution is unclear.

Saman’s lyrics often spoke of topics such as unemployment or government oppression.

His collaboration with Ruhollah Karami called Alo Nafas has racked up 100,000 views on YouTube since it was posted in 2019.

Saman is an ethnic Kurd. Iranian minorities – notably Kurds – are believed to have disproportionately suffered from state repression during the ongoing protests.

Mahsa Amini – whose death at the hands of morality police in September sparked the current wave of protests – was also Kurdish.

The ongoing protests have claimed between 304 and 356 lives and injured at least 1,160, according to independent