Who is Iranian rapper Tataloo, a former President Ebrahim Raisi endorser who now faces death sentence
Tataloo, who once supported a hard-line Iranian presidential candidate, now stands out against the gray prison uniform. The court sentenced him to the death penalty in May after he was found guilty of blasphemy in January this year.
The 37-year-old rapper's songs reverberated with the Islamic Republic's youth at a time when the opposition to the country's government was splintered and largely remained leaderless. His music became popular as it challenged Iran's theocracy and the hierarchy of the system.
In a major turn of events in 2022, the Iranian rapper's lyrics became more political after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini and the subsequent wave of nationwide protests.
Amini was detained and died in state custody of Iran in relation to state-imposed religious dress in September 2022. Tataloo also appeared in videos that criticised the government.
Tataloo started his music career in 2003. He is known for combining rap, pop, rhythm-and-blues and rock with Farsi lyrics.
He comes from the underground genre and released his first album in 2011 which reportedly polarized the audiences. However, Tataloo never played publicly in Iran, where all the concerts are controlled by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
Tataloo appeared in a 2015 music video which supported Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and the controversial nuclear program of the Islamic Republic, which has concerned the West for years that it could lead to Iran developing atom bombs. In the video for 'Energy Hasteei,' or 'Nuclear Energy,' Tataloo sang 'This is our absolute right: To have an armed Persian Gulf.'
He endorsed hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi in 2017 and sat with him for a television appearance as part of Raisi's failed presidential campaign against Hassan Rouhani.
Raisi later became the president in 2021 but was killed in a helicopter crash in 2024.
Tataloo faced legal issues in Iran in 2018 and was allowed to leave the country for Turkey, where many Persian singers and artists performed lucrative stage concerts. T
he singer started hosting several live video sessions on social media and became an instant rage among the youth, along with his tattoos covering his face and body.
Among the tattoos he boasted, one was an Iranian flag and another image of his mother next to a key and heart. In 2020, Instagram deactivated his account after he called for underage girls to join his 'team' for sex. The Iranian singer even acknowledged taking drugs.
Tataloo's long run in music came to a halt in late 2023 when his passport expired and he was deported from Turkey. Upon his arrival in Iran, the singer was immediately taken into custody. The Iranian Supreme Court upheld his death sentence in May this year.
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