The singer’s lawyer, Toumaj Salehi, Amir Raisyan Firouzabad, announced that the Revolutionary Court in Isfahan had sentenced his client to death on charges of “spreading corruption on earth.” Investigations conducted by Iran International show that the head of the Revolutionary Court in Isfahan, Mohammad Reza Tavakoli, is the judge who issued this ruling.
According to Iran International’s investigations, Mohammad Reza Tavakoli, in his capacity as head of the first branch of the Revolutionary Court in Isfahan, along with Ravanmehr and Ebrahimi, advisors to this branch of the court, issued the death sentence against the rapper Tomaj Salehi, famous for his song “Pray” (For) which became The anthem of last year’s protests.
Almost a year ago, by decision of the head of the Iranian judiciary, Mohammad Reza Tavakoli was appointed head of the Revolutionary Court in Isfahan.
During Tavakoli’s presentation session, Jamshid Rezaei, head of the General and Revolutionary Court of Isfahan City, described the Revolutionary Court as very special and said: “Since the Revolutionary Court is the authority to deal with security issues in the country, the judges who are appointed to head this court must have scientific and experimental qualities.” And a special personality.”
Before that, Tavakoli worked in various positions in the judiciary in Iran.
In 2018, Tavakoli, as the public prosecutor of the city of Najafabad in Isfahan Province, said in an interview with the media: “The entry of 90,000 court cases in 2018 shows that there is a significant increase in complaints and legal and criminal cases compared to 2017.”
Tawakkoli also said in an interview about the treatment of female cyclists in public places: “In this case, in addition to our implementation of judicial policies, we are also required to implement the decisions of the Commission for Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which are legitimate and legal decisions, obligating us to deal with female cyclists.”
In 2013, he was described by the Isfahan judiciary as a “model judge” in the province’s courts.
One of Toumaj Salehi’s friends told Iran International about the trial procedures for this opposition artist: “Mohammad Reza Tavakoli, the judge who issued the death sentence to Toumaj, said in court that the country’s Supreme Court acted sympathetically, and we in the Revolutionary Court in Isfahan will act more forcefully.”
This source familiar with the file also added: “Judge Muhammad Reda Tawakkoli is a very illiterate person and has a great desire to advance in the judiciary.” For this reason, he arbitrarily carried out illegal things against Tomaj Salihi and increased his charges from 3 to 10 charges.”
