By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
TEHRAN (Worthy News) – Iranian singer and rapper Amir Hossein Maghsoudloo, widely known as Amir Tataloo, has been sentenced to death for blasphemy against Islam, Iranian officials said Monday.
The 37-year-old artist, a prominent figure in the country’s underground hip-hop scene, initially received a five-year prison sentence for allegedly insulting the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Worthy News learned.
However, trial observers said the case reopened after the prosecutor appealed, leading to a harsher sentence on appeal.
Tataloo, whose body is almost entirely covered in tattoos, is known for his outspoken criticism of Iran’s strict Islamic leadership.
Through his music and social media platforms, he has regularly condemned Tehran’s reported human rights abuses.
His controversial statements and what authorities view as his “defiance of strict cultural norms” made him popular in Iran’s music scene but a target of Islamic authorities.
Tataloo is am among several people being prosecuted for blasphemy, including Christians.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Rescuers in Indonesia have recovered the bodies of dozens of people killed in flash floods or buried under tons of mud and rocks on the nation’s Java and Bali islands, with more heavy rain expected.
At least 76 people have been killed in a fire engulfing a popular Turkish ski resort, prompting the detention of numerous people, officials say.
Amid a surge in threats and attacks on Australia’s Jewish community, a childcare center located near a Jewish school and synagogue in Sydney was firebombed and had antisemitic graffiti sprayed on its walls in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Haaretz reports. The center was empty at the time of the attack and there were no reports of injuries.
The US Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether parents of elementary school pupils in Montgomery County, Maryland can pull their children out of lessons that use storybooks featuring LGBTQ characters and storylines, the Associated Press reports.
Pepperdine University, a Christian college in Malibu, California provided essential assistance in the fight against the horrific Los Angeles Palisades and Kenneth wildfires earlier this month by allowing firefighters access to the school’s Recycled Water Irrigation Reservoir and acting as a hub for coordinating an emergency response for the affected community, Christianity Today reports.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a large-scale counterterrorism operation in Jenin, named “Iron Wall.” The operation, announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the IDF, involves numerous forces from special units, Shin Bet, and Border Police, and will continue for several days.
A day after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday had a phone conversation in which they affirmed their two countries’ ties based on ‘shared interests, equality, and mutual benefits,’ the Associated Press reports.