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An Iranian court issued a death sentence to a popular rapper who was jailed for over a year after backing nationwide protests.
On Wednesday (April 24), rapper Toomaj Salehi was sentenced to death by a court in Iran for his support of protests that swept through the country two years ago, according to his lawyer. “Branch 1 of Isfahan Revolutionary Court… sentenced Toomaj Salehi to death on the charge of corruption on Earth,” Salem’s lawyer Amir Raisian said in a statement, adding “that in an unprecedented move, emphasized its independence and did not implement the Supreme Court’s ruling”. Salehi had been imprisoned in Isfahan in solitary confinement after reportedly being violently rearrested by Iranian police last year for 252 days, according to a report from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The rapper has been highly critical of the Revolutionary Government in the past and was initially arrested in October 2022 for “assistance in sedition, assembly and collusion, propaganda against the system and calling for riots” after protests over the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini the month before. Amini, 22, was an Iranian-Kurdish woman who had been detained for allegedly flouting the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women. Raisian stated that “We will certainly appeal against the sentence”. Iranian state media reported that Salehi’s sentence would be subject to a reduction by a pardoning committee upon appeal. Kurdish-Iranian rapper Saman Yasin was also detained by Iranian police and given a prison sentence after the protests.
The news prompted multiple expressions of outrage. “We strongly condemn Toomaj Salehi’s death sentence and the five-year sentence for Kurdish-Iranian rapper Saman Yasin. We call for their immediate release,” the United States’ Office of the Special Envoy for Iran said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “These are the latest examples of the regime’s brutal abuse of its own citizens, disregard for human rights, and fear of the democratic change the Iranian people seek.”
Ye-One Rhie, a member of the German Parliament and Salehi’s sponsor, also called for Salehi’s release. “It is still completely unclear how this verdict came about,” she posted on X on Wednesday. “It is unbelievable how irresponsibly and arbitrarily the Iranian regime treats defendants. It is impossible to recognize the rule of law in the chaos of the courts in charge.”
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Protesters angry over the war in Gaza shut down the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco as part of a day of action worldwide.
On Monday (April 15), the famous Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, became the scene of a major protest by those opposed to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. Protesters accessed the bridge from the southbound side at 7:30 a.m. local time, blocking the travel lanes on the bridge by chaining themselves to each other, using tubes in what’s referred to as a “sleeping dragon” method. Some protesters held up a banner that read, “Stop the world for Gaza” in capital letters.
The morning commute was brought to a standstill, with law enforcement clearing the protesters and reopening the bridge at 12:15 p.m. Before it was cleared up, traffic was backed up into Marin County on the southbound 101 highway. The California Highway Patrol told members of the press that 26 of the protesters present were arrested for multiple charges, including unlawful assembly, false imprisonment, refusal to comply with a lawful order, resisting arrest and conspiracy.
Some drivers caught up in the traffic jam caused by the protest boiled over into frustration, with one confrontation being caught on camera. “We’re just trying to get home or work, everyone’s just mad,” said one driver, Aung Zin. “I think this is the only way people will listen but at the same time, I wish there was a resolution around it.” Another driver spoke about their frustration as the protests blocked them from arriving for a medical procedure. “I’m headed to the city for stem cell replacement. They’re frozen I have to get there before they thaw. I’m feeling frustrated, I support the right for people to protest but if It causes thousands of people disturbance, it isn’t the right way to go about it,” said Rachel McKim.
The protest was part of A15, a day of action initiating a worldwide economic blockade to display solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza who have suffered over 30,000 lives lost and to call for the end of aid to Israel by the United States. It was set for Monday to coincide with it being the final day for U.S. citizens to submit their taxes. Other protests occurred on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, as well as at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
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Dr. Cornel West named Black Lives Matter Grassroots founder Dr. Melina Abdullah as his running mate for his 2024 presidential campaign in a historical moment.
On Wednesday (April 10), independent presidential candidate Cornel West chose fellow academic, activist, and Black Lives Matter organizer Dr. Melina Abdullah as his vice president nominee. He announced the nomination during a virtual press conference which media personality and friend, Tavis Smiley moderated.
“She has a record of deep commitment and investment in ensuring that poor and working people are at the center of her vision,” West said of Abdullah, also calling her a “freedom fighter” in his introduction. “I wanted to to run with someone who would put a smile on the face of Fannie Lou Hamer and Martin Luther King Jr. from the grave.” The selection makes their campaign the first to have two Black candidates on the ticket in history. Abdullah is a Pan-African Studies professor at California State University, who
“I am deeply honored and humbled to join Dr. Cornel West as his Vice Presidential candidate at this critical moment as we work together for transformative change. This campaign offers a real vision for the world that stands in opposition to oppressive forces and holds fast to the universal principles of truth, justice, and love,” Abdullah said of her nomination. She also noted the other historical factors in her selection as “divine timing”, being that she is the first Muslim to be included on a presidential ticket with the announcement coming on Eid-al-Fitr, “the holiest day for Muslims.” West is a Christian who is on the faculty at the Union Theological Seminary.
Abdullah brings a distinctive presence to the race, as her teaming up with West presents an alternative to Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican Party nominee Donald Trump in the election this November, particularly as Biden has come under fire for supporting Israel during its conflict with Hamas. She was also named to the board of Black Lives Matter after co-founder Patrisse Cullors stepped down in 2021 after increased scrutiny of the social justice group’s finances were exposed in a New York Magazine article. West formerly was a People’s Party presidential candidate before switching to the Green Party weeks later.
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On Tuesday (April 2), GOP candidate and current commander-in-criminal-indictments Donald Trump took the xenophobic bigot tour he calls his presidential campaign to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he called brown people who entered the U.S. illegally “animals” and declared that they’re “not human.”
“A 22-year-old nursing student in Georgia was barbarically murdered by an illegal alien animal,” Trump said in reference to the violent death of Laken Riley, a nursing student at Augusta University who was found dead in a wooded area at the University of Georgia campus in Athens on Feb. 22, and who authorities believe was killed by an undocumented migrant from Venezuela.
“The Democrats said please don’t call them animals, they’re humans. I said no, they’re not humans, they’re not humans, they’re animals. And Nancy Pelosi told me that. She said, ‘Please don’t use the word animals, sir, when you’re talking about these people.’ I said, ‘I’ll use the word ‘animal’ because that’s what they are.’”
Since news of Riley’s death broke, MAGA conservatives have been exploiting her story to craft a racist narrative that migrants coming into the U.S. from our southern border are causing violent crime to spiral out of control because they can’t be bothered to do the bare minimum research it would take to know there haven’t been any surges in crimes in the cities most migrants have come to, and, in fact, in many of those cities, crime rates have fallen.
Trump, in his usual bigoted fashion, is taking things a step further and using this single case of a citizen allegedly being murdered by an illegal immigrant as an excuse to completely dehumanize migrants whether they have done anything wrong or not.
This is, after all, the same orangey-white nationalist who previously likened migrants to Hannibal Lecter and claimed many of them speak languages so foreign (as in “from the planet Mars”) that no linguists in the developed world can translate. And lest we forget, Trump entered the political arena generalizing Mexican immigrants as “rapists” who are “bringing drugs” and “bringing crime.” (Now, he’s out here slanging $60 Bibles and $400 “Air Treasons” because his own alleged crimes appear to have caught up with him financially.)
A vote for Trump is a vote for the normalization of outright bigotry. This much is clear.
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The world was thrown off guard as the military overthrew the government in Niger, disrupting the nation’s first peaceful administration since 1960.
The commander of the country’s presidential guard, General Abdourahmane Tchiani, announced himself as the new leader of Niger on state television on Friday (July 28th). In a statement, the official title given was “President of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland,” while Tchiani’s reasons for the disruption were economic insecurity, border instability, and alleged corruption. President Mohamed Bazoum is currently being held captive by his own guards who initiated the coup on Wednesday morning (July 26h).
The coup has caused great alarm internationally in light of recent government upheavals in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union condemned the coup by Tchiani and his men, which disrupted the first peaceful transfer of power in the nation since it gained independence in 1960. President Patrice Talon of Benin has flown to Niger on behalf of ECOWAS to begin mediation efforts.
Niger has been a source of scrutiny for the West, as the nation has been an ally in fighting off insurgencies from Islamic jihadist groups in the region, as well as an ally to the European Union in thwarting human trafficking from sub-Saharan Africa. Mali’s recent breaking of ties with France including expelling its soldiers from within the country, in addition to the presence of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group, make the region more volatile.
President Bazoum remains defiant, saying that he will not resign and emphasizing that in a message posted to Twitter. “The hard-won achievements will be safeguarded. All Nigeriens who love democracy and freedom will see to it,” he wrote. Niger’s Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massoudou declared himself head of state and called on people to democratically protest the coup.
French President Emanuel Macron blasted the junta, saying: “This coup is completely illegitimate and profoundly dangerous, for Nigeriens, for Niger and for the whole region.” He called for Bazoum to be reinstated. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who is currently in New Zealand, said he spoke with Bazoum and “made clear that we strongly support him as the democratically elected president of the country.” Russia has also decried the coup. “We believe that the coup is unconstitutional, and we always take a principled and clear position on that,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a statement.
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