Toomaj Salehi: I practiced every day for the moment of execution so as not to show weakness

Toomaj Salehi: I practiced every day for the moment of execution so I wouldn’t show weakness Iranian protest rapper Toomaj Salehi says that when he was sentenced to death in prison, he practiced for the moment the sentence would be carried out so as not to “show weakness.” He says that although he believed the political cost of executing him would prevent the sentence from being carried out, he found the severing of contact with his family and the pressures of prison life to be a difficult and exhausting experience. In an interview with Farnaz Ghazizadeh on BBC Persian’s Special Talk program, Toomaj Salehi spoke not only about his arrest, imprisonment, and death sentence, but also about the rising number of executions and pressure on political prisoners, the increase in repression in Iran after the war, and the importance of supporting political prisoners; he also discussed the campaign he has launched on social media on this issue. He says an alliance with a current that attacks political and social activists is no longer possible, but believes that opponents of the government can still agree on basic principles such as human rights, free elections, democracy, and the release of political prisoners, and that defending prisoners’ rights should be defined as a common goal.