Iranian Rapper Goes Into Hiding After $100,000 Hit Is Placed On His Head
Thursday, 17 May 2012
Written by Elliott Batte
A rapper from Iran has incredibly been forced into hiding this month after releasing a track which was found to be blasphemous towards Islam – leading to a $100,000 bounty being placed on his head.
Shahin Najafi, a 31 year-old rapper living in Germany, released his new tune 'Naqi' on May 7th, and was immediately met with death threats, online execution campaigns and a 'fatwa', a form of Islamic death sentence.
'Naqi' is an ode to Ali an-Naqi, who is a religious figure to Shia Muslims, and sees Najafi making comments about Iran's abuse of basic human rights – as well as claiming that Iran needs to be saved by an-Naqi and satirically mocking Tehran's campaign. As you can imagine, Islamic extremists are exceptionally unhappy about it – and have begun campaigns and protests online calling for Najafi's head.
This has forced Najafi into hiding, with the rapper saying via the Independent: “I am still in disbelief. I'm only 31 with my whole life ahead of me. Each person has to pay a price for what they want. I will never apologise for my art or for speaking the truth about the Iranian government.”
Despite his disbelief, he's now made his way to the top of Islamic extremists target list, and has a $100,000 bounty on his head. There's also been a petition signed by more than a 100 people which calls for Najafi to be 'executed'.
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