Iranian Pop Star Tataloo Sentenced to Death for “Blasphemy” (Reports)

An Iranian court has reportedly sentenced tattooed pop star Amir Hossein Maghsoudloo, known as Tataloo, to death for blasphemy. The 37-year-old singer has been imprisoned in Iran since December 2023 after his extradition from Turkey.

Several Iranian media sources, including the Iranian newspapers Etemad And Jam Jamreported on Sunday that Tataloo was sentenced to death by Iran’s Supreme Court after he was found guilty of insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Etemad reported that Tataloo was serving a five-year prison sentence for various crimes, including blasphemy, but his case was reopened at the request of the prosecutor. At the retrial he received the death penalty.

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The report noted that the verdict was not final and Tataloo could still appeal. Iranian judicial officials also said Sunday that a final verdict in the case had not yet been made.

The musician, known for mixing rap, pop and R&B styles, was previously sentenced to 10 years in prison for promoting “prostitution” and charged with anti-regime propaganda and publishing “obscene content.”

Tataloo was not always at odds with the Iranian regime. In 2015, he released a song supporting Iran’s nuclear program, which failed after the Trump administration later withdrew from the deal. In 2017, Tataloo held a televised meeting with ultra-conservative Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who later died in a helicopter crash. Before his extradition, Tataloo had been living in Istanbul since 2018.

The case comes against a backdrop of increasing persecution in Iran, which includes judicial executions. The United Nations reported around 901 executions in 2024 – the highest number in nine years. The uncertainty over Tataloo’s ruling coincided with a shooting at Iran’s Supreme Court in Tehran on Saturday that left two judges specializing in national security cases dead.

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