Iran court issues new charges against rapper Toomaj Salehi, keeping him behind bars

Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, whose death sentence for involvement in nationwide protests was overturned in June, has been issued with new charges and remains in prison, his lawyer said.

Salehi, 33, was arrested in October 2022 after publicly backing demonstrations that erupted a month earlier, triggered by the death in police custody of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.

Amini, 22, was detained by the morality police in Tehran over an alleged breach of the Islamic republic's strict dress rules for women, triggering large-scale, nationwide protests.

Salehi was sentenced to death for "corruption on earth", a capital crime in Iran, but the supreme court in June overturned the ruling.

On Wednesday, a court in the central province of Isfahan where he was originally tried halted the prosecution of Salehi on all the charges in a new hearing.

His lawyer said, however, that the "filing of a new case" against Salehi prevented his release.

"A case was filed against Mr Salehi for one of his songs," the lawyer, Amir Raisian, was quoted as saying by the Shargh newspaper's website late Wednesday.

"The investigator issued a bail order and an arrest order, and according to the arrest order, Mr Salehi will not be released until the case is determined.

"I have not yet been allowed to attend (a hearing on) the case as a lawyer, but Mr Salehi has been informed of the accusations of desecration and inciting riots."

The months-long protests sparked by Amini's death saw hundreds of people killed. Thousands, including journalists who reported on the matter, were arrested as authorities moved to quell what they branded foreign-instigated "riots".

In January, another singer, Mehdi Yarrahi, who criticised the headscarf requirement for women was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison on multiple charges.

The court later changed Yarrahi's sentence to home confinement due to health issues.

Iran has executed 10 men in protest-related cases involving killings and other violence against the security forces.