Iranian authorities have jailed musician Khosrow Azarbeyg for criticizing Tehran’s financial support for Hezbollah and former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, he said in an audio recording from prison.
"I was imprisoned for peacefully criticizing the deposit of Iran’s revenues into the satanic palaces of Hassan Nasrallah and Bashar al-Assad," he said.
Azarbeyg added that he had been denied contact with his family since his arrest nearly two weeks ago.
Last Tuesday, his lawyer Amir Raisian announced that Azarbeyg was arrested in Tehran in a post on X, adding that his family was told he is accused of insulting former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The musician had played the Persian daf frame drum in Tehran’s metro while singing Ey Iran, a widely-recognized patriotic anthem, in protest against the Islamic Republic’s support for Assad’s government after his ouster.
Months after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike, he posted a video on Instagram from Tehran’s metro, saying, "Let’s forget all the sadness of Lebanon," as he began singing the same anthem and playing the daf.
Pro bono legal group Dadban on Thursday condemned Azarbeyg’s arrest, arguing that Iran’s Islamic Penal Code criminalizes insults against foreign heads of state only if they are in office at the time and if their country takes reciprocal action—conditions it said did not apply in this case.
Last September, Azarbeyg was arrested while performing music in Tehran’s Mellat Park. Security forces confiscated his belongings.
Although he was released after a few hours, authorities opened a judicial case against him, according to US-based rights group Human Rights Activist Network Agency (HRANA).
