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This article first appeared in Volume 53, Issue 4 of our print edition of Index on Censorship, titled Unsung Heroes: How musicians are raising their voices against oppression. Read more about the issue here. The issue was published on 12 December 2024.
In around 2009, Golazin Ardestani was preparing to go on stage in Tehran. The venue was sold out. She and her university classmates had been through months of rehearsals for their traditional concert and had followed all the rules: they had their songs cleared by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the lead singer was male, the musicians would be seated on the floor and everyone was dressed appropriately, including the correct hijab protocols. And yet, as Ardestani – who goes by the stage name Gola – walked towards the stage, she was told: “No, you can’t perform with them. No female musician can go on stage tonight.”
She stood at the side of the stage and watched her friends perform without her, clutching the formal permission papers which should have allowed her to sing, and which had been wilfully ignored. This is just one of the heartbreaking memories she has of being a female musician in Iran.
A few years later, Ardestani left Iran for good. Now in her 30s, she is based between Europe and the USA, where she creates music that speaks out against the regime. In 2018, she founded her own record label, Zan Recordings, so that she could finally release music on her own terms.
Ardestani was born in Isfahan, in Iran. She taught herself to yodel as a child and grew up in a house filled with a mix of the traditional Persian music favoured by her parents, and the Iranian and Western pop smuggled in by her older siblings, whose musical preferences were inspired by their desire for freedom.
“My teenage years were full of those stolen moments listening to forbidden songs on satellite,” she told Index over email. “Music, and especially female performers, gave me a sense of freedom that was completely absent on our heavily censored government TV.”
Growing up, Gola had never seen a woman on an Iranian stage. At age 19, fed up with trying to conform to traditional norms and still being prevented from singing, she joined some friends and a group of three sisters to create Iran’s first girl band, Orchid.
They wanted to challenge the narrative of female singers being “provocative”, and to resist patriarchal and authoritarian forces. Behind their music was a deep understanding of the history of Iranian music from before the Islamic revolution of 1979, when female singers like Googoosh and Qamar-ol-Moluk Vaziri had been celebrated and were free to perform to mixed audiences.
Orchid was only allowed to perform for female audiences, who had to remain seated. Gestures or movements that could be interpreted as dancing were strictly forbidden. The performers themselves had to avoid showing emotion on stage.
“There were female morality police at the end of each row, watching us and the audience,” Ardestani recalled.
The memory of those performances, in front of thousands of women, is still vivid.
“It was such a powerful experience that I remember making a promise to myself that night: that I would sing, I would sing solo, and I would one day sing for a mixed audience,” she said. “I held onto this vision of a day when our fathers, brothers, husbands and sons could feel proud of the women on stage.”
Whilst in Iran, Ardestani was arrested three times by the morality police, experiences which she said shaped her music and her determination to keep fighting.
The first occasion was when she was just 16, when she was arrested because her hijab wasn’t covering the front of her hair. She sat terrified in a cell and sang to distract herself. A woman shouted at her: “Shut up, close your mouth, shut your ugly voice!”
The last time she was arrested was particularly brutal and was due to the clothes she was wearing. “As they were about to push me into the van, I put on my fighting face, but chaos quickly ensued,” she said. A crowd began to form, and she hit something hard, breaking her arm. With the situation out of control, the police’s superior told her to go home in a taxi.
“All of this because of my ripped jeans, even though I was wearing a long manto [overcoat] and a scarf covering my hair.”
Ardestani considers herself lucky to have escaped alive. Under similar circumstances, Mahsa “Jina” Amini died in custody in September 2022, the moment that sparked the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising.
Iranian singer Golazin Ardestani demonstrating in Washington DC. Photo by Nathan Napolitano
Before leaving Iran in 2011 both to perform without persecution, and to study for a master’s in music psychology in London, Ardestani made a final attempt to plead her case and gain permission to record an album.
“I had to trick my way through the system just to get my foot in the door of the Department of Direction, where the man who granted permissions for male singers worked. But when I finally met him, he wouldn’t even look at me, staring at the floor as he spoke,” she said. She was told that Iran didn’t need a Céline Dion.
Ardestani knew then there was no coming back. “Once I started singing freely, I would lose my home forever,” she said. On the day she left, after Norouz (Persian New Year) in 2011, she decided she would dedicate everything to fighting for change.
“I promised myself that my music would carry the voices of those who can’t be heard,” she said. “There was no way for me to be fully myself as a musician, as a singer or even as a woman. They controlled every aspect of my voice, my body, my agency.”
She knows that she cannot return, and is confident that if she did, she would be arrested and charged with Mofsed fel-Arz, or “spreading corruption on earth”, due to her open challenges to what she calls Iran’s “fabricated religious theocracy”. This charge could carry a death sentence.
The songs she has finally had the freedom to create include Haghame, meaning “It’s My Right”, which is about the freedom to choose whether or not to wear the hijab. Another, Khodavande Shoma, translates to “Your God”, and includes the lyrics: “Your god is sick, it seems – a sick, dangerous criminal. Your religious beliefs, death, and destruction. Your prayers are for murder and blood.”
For female musicians in Iran, freedom is still out of reach. Many women rely on underground scenes, Ardestani told Index, but this comes with its own risks. Posting performances on social media can also lead to arrests, intimidation and the charge of Mofsed fel-Arz.
And censorship does not always respect borders. At a concert in Canada in 2023, designed to support the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, Ardestani was told she could not sing Khodavande Shoma, because the organisers believed it was “attacking people’s religion”. This, she said, is not what the song is about. Rather she is “confronting the twisted version of religion that the Islamic regime has created”.
“I am an Iranian woman fighting for freedom and, specifically, for women’s freedom of choice and speech. Yet here I was, outside of Iran, being told by an organiser – of a concert for freedom, no less – that I couldn’t sing a song in a free country,” she said.
She told the male Iranian organisers that she would sing that song, or not sing at all. They relented.
For every performance Ardestani gives, another song in Iran is silenced. She often posts on social media about the plight of imprisoned Iranian musicians. She condemned the arrest of Zara Esmaeili, who often sang covers of international pop hits in public with her hair uncovered. One social media video showed Esmaeili performing Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black. She was arrested on 25 July 2024, and it is believed that she has not been heard from since.
Ardestani is a huge admirer of Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, who won an Index Freedom of Expression Award in 2023. He was first arrested in 2022, and after being detained multiple times and tortured, he was charged with “corruption on earth”, jailed and given the death sentence. The death sentence was dropped after campaigning from prominent musicians and human rights organisations including Index, and Salehi was released in early December.
“It’s unimaginable that a musician, simply expressing himself through lyrics, could be sentenced to death for his art,” Ardestani said. “Iranian music is powerful and resilient; it’s the heartbeat of a people who have been silenced in many other ways. Each song is a form of resistance, a declaration of our existence and our hope.”
As to why Salehi and other musicians are targeted, she has a strong theory: “They know the power of a good song, the potential of meaningful lyrics and the way music can unite people to inspire change.”
For Ardestani now, everything is about fighting for freedom for all – not just in Iran, but globally. She describes music as a way to transform personal struggles into a collective moment. In another of her songs, Betars Az Man, or Fear Me, she sings:
“The butterfly is fleeing its cocoon.
Fear me, as I am that butterfly.
Fear me, as freedom is my voice.”
In her upcoming song Zaloo, she says she will offer her vision for ending theocracy in Iran – a musical call to action. For Ardestani, music is a form of rebellion. And as she told Index, far from being afraid herself: “Those who wish to silence me should be the ones who are afraid.”
Doughty Street Chambers, Index on Censorship and Human Rights Foundation welcome news that their client, Iranian rapper and activist Toomaj Salehi, has been released from prison overnight by Iranian authorities.
Mr Salehi’s release comes after 753 days spent in prison in Isfahan. He was initially arrested in October 2022 for his involvement in the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini whilst in the custody of Iran’s morality police.
In April 2024, Mr Salehi was sentenced to death for crimes including “corruption on earth” – using his music and activism to support Iranian women and human rights in Iran. Even after his death sentence was overturned by Iran’s Supreme Court in July 2024, Mr Salehi remained in custody on a series of overlapping and shifting charges.
In May 2024, Mr Salehi’s counsel team at Doughty Street Chambers and Index on Censorship filed an Urgent Appeal with two UN Special Rapporteurs. In July 2024, Human Rights Foundation submiVed an individual complaint to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in conjunction with the counsel team at Doughty Street Chambers and Index on Censorship.
In response to the news of his release, Mr Salehi’s cousin, Arezou Eghbali Babadi, said:
“The regime tried to silence Toomaj with a death sentence, tortured him to death to break his spirit, and now, after so much pain and injustice, they released him. The truth is: Toomaj should never have been in prison at all. And the root cause still remains—the inhumanity of the regime in Iran, a system that thrives on oppression and fear. That’s why we must remain vigilant to ensure Toomaj stays safe and his voice for freedom is never silenced again.”
Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, international counsel for Mr Salehi’s family, Index on Censorship, and Human Rights Foundation said:
“This is a time of celebration: our brave, brilliant client Toomaj Salehi is finally free, after 753 days’ imprisonment. Mr Salehi has long used his powerful art – his rapping, his music, his words – to support the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement and human rights in Iran. For this, the Iranian authorities have targeted him for years, attempting to silence him through arrests, imprisonment, torture, assaults, and even a death sentence.
But this is also a time for vigilance. Mr Salehi’s release has been achieved through sustained pressure upon the Iranian authorities, both inside and outside Iran. The world must not look away now: we must ensure Mr Salehi remains free and is never again subjected to the egregious violations of his rights which he has endured over the past 753 days.”
Jemimah Steinfeld, CEO of Index on Censorship, said:
“We are thrilled that Toomaj Salehi is finally free. He is a courageous and principled man who should never have been in jail. While he won’t be able to get back the years he has lost it is a relief for us to know he is reunited with his family. It has been a privilege to support Toomaj since his arrest and to work alongside brilliant colleagues at Doughty Street Chambers and Human Rights Foundation. Our thoughts are with Toomaj today. We are also thinking of the many other political prisoners still behind bars in Iran simply for exercising their free expression. Our fight for their rights continues.”
Claudia Bennett, legal and programs officer at Human Rights Foundation, said:
“HRF celebrates Toomaj’s release but demands the Iranian regime end its cycle of injustice. After enduring 753 days of wrongful detention, Toomaj should never face such persecution again. Even one more day behind bars on bogus charges is unacceptable. Let Toomaj rap, express himself, and live freely—this is his right, and it’s time the regime respects it.”
Speaking on X, Mr Salehi’s friend and manager of his social media accounts, Negin Niknaam, said:
“Toomaj Salehi, the son of Iran, after enduring 753 days of cruel, unjust and undocumented re-incarceration, by going through the excuses and legal games of those with interests, was released today on December 11, 1403 from Dastgerd prison in Isfahan, and the prisoner who was taken was victorious. He returned to the arms of his big family. While expressing joy and happiness at the end of more than one year, 9 months and 21 days of this cruel double captivity, we will wait for the end of all cases and false accusations and the complete and unconditional release of Toomaj.”
Notes to Editors:
• The international legal team at Doughty Street Chambers is led by Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, working with barristers Jonathan Price, Sam Jacobs and Nikila Kaushik. Any press queries for the international legal team should be directed to [email protected] or [email protected].
• Any press queries for Index on Censorship should be directed to Jemimah Steinfeld on [email protected].
• Any press queries for the Human Rights Foundation should be directed to Claudia Bennett at [email protected] or [email protected].
• Previous statements with more background information regarding the UN appeals and the quashing of Toomaj Salehi’s death sentence are available:
– Statement of 3rd May 2024: Urgent Appeal filed with United Nations for Iranian rapper sentenced to death for his music
– Statement of 22nd June 2024: Iran’s Supreme Court Overturns Death Sentence given to Iran Rapper Toomaj Salehi
– Statement of 24th July 2024: Index on Censorship, Human Rights Foundation and Doughty Street Chambers submit complaint to UN
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in response to Ongoing Judicial Persecution of Toomaj Salehi
– Statement of 24th September 2024: Iranian Rapper Toomaj Salehi: United Nations Member States urged to press Iranian President to
release him immediately
• More background about Toomaj Salehi is available on social media, at @OfficialToomaj (X) and @ToomajOfficial (Instagram). More details of the
campaign can be found using the hashtag #FreeToomaj.
• Toomaj Salehi was the winner in the arts category of Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards in 2023. More details of the award here.
For many of us, specifically those who have experienced prison, Toomaj Salehi is the symbol of resistance against an autocratic regime’s oppression, and whose honest and unapologetic voice cuts through the sheer reality of a society suffering from repression and corruption.
To us, condemning Salehi to death for his songs and lyrics is the equivalent of declaring war against the people of Iran.
The first time I heard Salehi was right at the beginning of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. He seemed like an ordinary man with a real voice in his music, suddenly thrown into the national and international spotlight while holding onto his truth. His music showed the power of ordinary voices in Iran and beyond.
Salehi has long challenged the Islamic Republic of Iran’s establishment. Through his songs and lyrics, he has condemned the state’s political repression, injustice, corruption and violation of women’s rights for many years. As a result, he has gained fans amongst Iranians inside and outside the country while managing to outrage the government.
Salehi condemns the Islamic state for its corruption, which increases the gap in society where the poor get poorer and the rich become richer. In his song Normal, he speaks bluntly about a rampant poverty which is inflicted on a resource-rich country. Salehi articulates how sanctions, as well as self-inflicted international isolation, have resulted in a huge part of society hardly being able to make ends meet while those in power are busy building tower blocks and pocketing wealth at home and abroad.
Salehi tells of his ambitions for living in a normal country, where people can have the freedom to speak and criticise their political leaders and to defend their basic rights without being harassed, prosecuted or imprisoned.
At the heat of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran in September 2022, following the death of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police, Salehi released several songs in support of the movement, which increased his popularity amongst the people but also the anger of the authorities. He was arrested, and he was released on bail only after the Supreme Court overturned the charges in November 2023.
The state has systematically used forced confession to silence and repress dissent for decades and on his release, Salehi posted a YouTube video in which he described the torture and forced confession he went through while in detention. Three days later, the security forces raided his house in Isfahan and arrested him again. Salehi was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court of Isfahan in April 2024.
After an Index-led campaign the Supreme Court ruled out the death penalty but at the time of publication, Salehi remains behind bars. Like many others, he finds himself trapped in this circle of corruption and power. Freedom for Salehi is a world where he is allowed to articulate his vision without being punished; in which the government is willing to improve people’s daily lives, and a regime which does not indoctrinate its citizens and ensures they have the means to live dignified lives.
Through his music, he tries to be the voice of those terrified to speak up, and it is only fair to echo his voice beyond his country’s borders.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a former hostage in Iran and author of the forthcoming book A Yard of Sky: A Story of Love, Resistance and Hope. Below is a translation of Toomaj Salehi’s song Normal.
By Toomaj Salehi
Yes! Yes Sir! Life is normal
A labourer’s annual wage is worth a dinner abroad
Yes! Of course, Sir! Life is normal
We don’t dare say otherwise, lest we get in trouble
Yes! Yes Sir! Life is normal
Some have to sleep in tombs, others own 10 high-rises
Yes! Of course, Sir! Life is normal
We don’t ask for what is ours, lest it be a crime
Sir, have you seen down there? The empty plates?
You are so enlightened, have you seen the dark city?
Have you seen these quarters where the waists are so narrowed, from your blood-sucking
These quarters where you dump your waste from above
Have you seen how different we are?
Be my guest, no need to buy tickets to watch
Kid! Go back to your room, you are scaring the gentleman
He is not used to seeing ragged and worn clothes, not even from afar
Are you watching Sir?
You shine like a star, with the glimmering light of the ones you executed
Instead of being reprimanded, you have been promoted for your mistakes
You cut off any dissident at will
Sir! My words are sour, have some sweets to wash off the taste
Here, people are just alive, they don’t have a life
Our kids sleep with empty stomachs
Sorry, how do you sleep with a clear conscience again?
Yes! Yes Sir! Life is normal
A labourer’s annual wage is worth a dinner abroad
Yes! Of course, Sir! Life is normal
We don’t dare say otherwise, lest we get in trouble
Yes! Yes Sir! Life is normal
Some have to sleep in tombs, others own 10 high-rises
Yes! Of course, Sir! Life is normal
We don’t ask for what is ours, lest it be a crime
While the rest of the world is supporting their citizens
Our government denied responsibility and kept complaining
It called protesters insurrectionists
Did it stop at imprisonment? No, it committed atrocities (as well)
No doubt “We broke records”!
We are the only country, where the (COVID) vaccine was different for the rich and poor
In the age of science, women are beaten for their beauty
Thrown in the back of a police van, taken to unnamed prisons
Our shopping cart is empty, no more oil left to export
The rest of the world are shooting for the moon and mars, while we are in the abyss
We are the dead who can’t die
Since we can’t pay for the burial and the tombstone
I’m ringing the alarms, hoping ears burn
We have people who are on the verge of death from starvation
They have kissed the lips of death, where are they?
Perhaps someone should sing them lullabies
Yes! Yes Sir! Life is normal
A labourer’s annual wage is worth a dinner abroad
Yes! Of course, Sir! Life is normal
We don’t dare say otherwise, lest we get in trouble
Yes! Yes Sir! Life is normal
Some have to sleep in tombs, others own 10 high-rises
Yes! Yes Sir! Life is normal
We don’t ask for what is ours, lest it be a crime
We are constantly worried about the rent
We are scared for roofless schools in the desert
A bird can’t fly without food and water
Is this a normal life, or are we sick?
Cheap products cost a fortune
Labourer is working overtime, yet the car he wants to buy is getting further away
In this corrupt cycle, he is struggling
The regime sacrifices a million for one
For the deeply corrupt regime apologists in the US
Those who compensate for their inferiority by debauchery
There is no Left and Right here, they are all the same
We say we are trapped in a swamp, they say they hope to reform it
Is there anything that makes you feel ashamed?
Do you think citizens are your slaves?
You expect people not to eat bread so yours is buttered?
Did I confuse you by calling you Sir?
Oil tankers in a queue, on their way
Red tulip covered lands, green dollar bills
The poverty ridden city, the only sound is the cry of death
To hell with the regime officials
We are all united, We want freedom
Locked hands, human chains
We are all united, We want freedom
The power of unity is ours
Oil tankers in a queue, on their way
Red tulip covered lands, green dollar bills
The poverty ridden city, the only sound is the cry of death
To hell with the regime officials
Toomaj Salehi is an Iranian rapper who received an Index Freedom of Expression Award in 2023. A year later after he was sentenced to death in Iran. Index launched a petition signed by leading cultural figures calling for his death sentence to be immediately and unconditionally quashed and for him to be released from detention, with all other charges dismissed. At the time of publication the Supreme Court has reversed his death sentence, but he is still behind bars. Lyrics translated by TurfHeadClic on Lyricstranslate.com
Rap is not a crime. Calling for human rights and democracy is not a crime. Standing up in solidarity with the courageous women who took to the streets to protest their rights is not a crime. Yet, the fact that such basic truths need to be stated is a damning reflection of the current state of affairs in Iran. My family knows this harsh reality all too well. My cousin, the renowned rapper Toomaj Salehi, remains unjustly imprisoned.
Two years ago today, Toomaj was arrested. Due to the opaque nature of the Iranian justice system, we only know what has been communicated through the state’s propaganda channels. The Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Isfahan, Seyed Mohammad Mousavian, listed my cousin’s charges as “propaganda against the regime, cooperation with hostile states, and establishing an illegal group with the intention of disrupting national security.” Speaking to the Mizan News Agency, Mousavian added: “The accused played a key role in creating disturbances and inviting and encouraging the recent disturbances in Isfahan province and in Shahinshahr city.”
For our family, translating statements like these have become second nature. Simply put, the Islamic Republic’s power rests on inconsistency, vagaries and arbitrariness, instilling fear in the people. But voices like Toomaj, who declare “we are not afraid of you and stand with women demanding basic human rights” have shaken that foundation. They arrested him due to his influence and courage and because his music was seen as a threat. For the authorities, his prominence meant that if they could silence him, they could silence anyone.
But they underestimated my cousin.
Toomaj has always been outspoken, never backing down from telling the truth. While many Iranian artists use metaphors to cloak their criticism, Toomaj’s music speaks plainly and directly. His words shine a light on the reality that many cannot name. He always seeks to be clear and easily understood by everyone. This clarity was a reason he was popular and a reason he has been targeted.
His arrest two years ago wasn’t his first. On 13 September 2021, Toomaj was arrested at his home on charges of “insulting the Supreme Leader” and “propaganda against the regime”, following the release of his song Mouse Hole, which called out the “corporate journalist, cheap informer, court artist” who support the regime’s persecution of dissidents. He was released on bail on 21 September 2021 and one of the first things Toomaj did was record a music video, filmed outside the prison he had been held in.
Justice in Iran comes in waves – dark then light then dark – and our fight for Toomaj is no different. After his second arrest on 30 October 2022, he was sentenced to prison in July 2023. He was then released from Isfahan Central Prison on 18 November 2023 on bail, only for the darkness to return when he was rearrested less than two weeks later after he told the world about the torture and mistreatment he received.
Then in April 2024 we received the news that everyone who has a family member in prison dreads – reports that Toomaj was facing the death sentence. The light came when this was overturned by the Supreme Court but the bulb is flickering. He remains in prison facing new charges as the regime still intends to keep him imprisoned for as long as possible.
We are one of the thousands of families forced into campaigning for our loved one’s release after the brutal clampdown following the protests that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini while in custody. Many have been robbed of the hope of ever seeing their family members again as a number of protesters have been executed by the regime. At a time when women risked everything to demand their rights, Toomaj knew standing alongside them was the only right thing left to do and that his music and visibility could bring more attention to their courage. This is why the regime has been so threatened and so willing to persecute him – holding him in solitary confinement, torturing him, threatening him with the death sentence and withholding medical treatment.
Toomaj’s resilience is unshakable, fueled by his unwavering pursuit of freedom. It is this vision that gives him the strength to keep fighting, no matter the obstacles. It is now up to the international community to stand up and exert pressure on Iran to demand his immediate release. The world must not remain silent – it must speak out like my cousin did when he saw wrongdoing and injustice.