Two members of Iranian band Confess —Nikan “Siyanor” Khosravi and Arash “Chemical” Ilkhani— have been sentenced to a combined 14.5 years in prison. Their crime? playing metal heavy metal in their home country.
Khosravi and Ilkani were arrested by the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution in 2015. The band were charged with expressing anti-religious and anti-regime sentiments through their music. Khosravi was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison and 74 lashes, while Ilkhani was initially sentenced to six years in prison — which has since been reduced to two years.
A legal document from the General Judiciary of the Province of Tehran was obtained by Loudwire. The document outlines the charges from the July 3rd sentencing. The charges pertain to, “disturbing public opinion through the production of music containing anti-regime lyrics and insulting content and for participating in interviews with the opposition media”, “insulting the Supreme Leader and the president” and “insulting the sanctity of Islam”
The two were initially thrown into solitary confinement, where they narrowly escape the death penalty. Khosravi told Loudwire that Confessed dodged execution on account of a loophole in Iran’s practice of Sharia Law. “If you insult the Prophet you will get executed because he’s dead and he can’t defend himself,” he explained. “But if you blaspheme God and question his existence, he can forgive you. That was why we didn’t get executed.”
Additional charges were laid against Confess for leaving the country. The pair were released from prison in Evin in 2017 after they made their $30,000 USD bail. They then fled to Turkey to appeal against the charges.
Confess have since been granted asylum in Norway, where they will continue to make music. They just released a new single, ‘Evin’, named after the Iranian prison where they were detailed. The track is set to feature on their forthcoming record, Revenge at All Costs. Listen to it below.
Check out: Confess – ‘Evin’
