Malaysia Chronicle (http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com)
Iran rapper gets death sentence for lyrics, 19 May 2012
A RAPPER from Iran has been forced into hiding after being issued with a DEATH SENTENCE over his controversial lyrics. Shahin Najafi is being dubbed the Salman Rushdie of music after two Iranianm clerics issued fatwas - religous rulings - saying he should be MURDERED on grounds of blasphemy. Najafi - who lives in Germany and since last week has been under police protection said: “I am still in disbelief. I’m only 31, with my whole life ahead of me." He does not regret the song and refuses to apologize - arguing that invoking a saint’s name is a freedom of expression and not a religious insult. Najafi said: "Each person has to pay a price for what they want. I will never apologise for my art and for speaking the truth about Iran’s government.” Iranian officials have not commented on the fatwas or denounced them. But the case could present a new public-image problem for Iran ahead of talks next week with the international community in Baghdad over its nuclear program. The senior clerics empowered to issue fatwas act independently of the government - but anyone who carries out a death fatwa is granted impunity under Iranian law. After Najafi released his song “Naqi” online last week - Iranian media and conservative bloggers said it was in violation of an earlier fatwa calling for the execution of anyone who blasphemes the 10th saint of Shiite Islam, Ali an-Naqi. A subsequent fatwa by another grand ayatollah gave the green light for his followers to kill Najafi - though the fatwa did not mention the rapper by name. An Iranian website, Shia-Online, then put a £62,000 bounty on Najafi’s head, and more than 100 people, joining an online“campaign to execute Shahin Najafi,” have pledged further rewards. Najafi fled to Germany in 2005 after he said an intelligence agent threatened him for staging underground concerts. His angry lyrics touch on rights abuses, stifling social norms and other difficulties of life in Iran, and in “Naqi,” he calls on the saint to save the country. -TheSun
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