Iranian Rapper Toomaj Salehi, Imprisoned And In Immediate Risk Of Execution For Participating In Anti-Regime Protests, In Music Video Titled 'Survivor': I'm The Wrath Of God; Iran Is Mine, It's Totally Wrecked, But I Will Rebuild It Myself!

On November 26, 2022, the "Wajiro no Terebi" YouTube channel posted a music video with English-language subtitles of a song titled "Bazmandeh [Survivor]" by Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, who is currently in prison in Iran for having participated in anti-regime protests. According to reports, Salehi is in solitary confinement, has been subjected to severe torture, and may be at risk of losing his eyesight. He may face the death penalty for his charges. The song's lyrics include: "I'm the happy ending of the story... I'm the inevitable light of the sun... I'm the shots in the chest of the city Ahvaz, I'm the poverty of Baloch... I'm the son of Iran... I'm the wrath of God, I'm your fear... Promising no more calm dreams for them [and] to be as harsh as a plague... Gimme gimme, because Iran is mine... It's totally wrecked but gimme, because I will rebuild it myself!" The song was originally published by Salehi in November 2021.

Toomaj Salehi: "I'm one of the survivors of the [Bloody] Aban [November],

I am the poem and voice, I'm eternal.

Me? One of the thousands – I'm the happy ending of the story.

I'm drunk of the whiplashes I've consumed,

I'm victorious of the prison they've brought me into.

I'm the flame risen from the dusts [which they labeled me as],

away from life – against the enemy. Ward 2A, files about me are piling up;

Kasra [Norui] and Golrokh [Iraei] are in jail,

I'm the blood of [the hero] Siavash and the bow of [the sharpshooter] Arash,

I'm the flight that flew away.

I'm the inevitable light of the sun, the inevitable growth of the seed. I'm rooted and firm, I'm the homeland's Tree of Hope.

I'm the child laborer, the unknown, the bumps on the hands of the dream.

In the season of unity, I'm the battalion – I'm the blood of Neda; Sultan I am.

I'm the dying heart of a lake [Lake of Urmia], I'm the broken wing of a flight [PS752 Ukraine].

I'm the slap in the face of the traffic warden [who was slapped by the parliament rep], I'm the shots in the chest of the city Ahvaz.

I'm the poverty of Baloch, the Kurd cross-border 'Kolbar,' the mother tongue, I'm Arab, I'm Turk. I'm the song of Iran, a Bakhtiari, signature of bravery.

I'm the wrath of God, I'm your fear, the judgement for homeland, the infinite justice.

I'm God's purgatory, your horror, the fighter for rights, death is pride.

I'm the wrathful rise of anger, the flooding break of a dam, pure in the inner like a child, my poem is soft like my death. Let's break da rules, we don't have 'em.

Promising no more calm dreams for them. Promising to be as harsh as a plague.

We'll unify and batons runaway! Gimme gimme, because Iran is mine.

Gimme gimme, because this land is mine. Gimme gimme, it's totally wrecked but –

gimme cuz I will rebuild it myself! Gimme gimme, because Iran is mine.

Gimme gimme, because this land is mine. Gimme gimme, it's totally wrecked but –

gimme cuz I will rebuild it myself!"

Afrasiab: "I'll rebuild it, my roots are in this land, even if I die, I'll be reborn on the papers.

I'm the meaning of the nightmares of the city, no doubts that the chains of cruelty will break.

I'm the red drop in your eyes, I'm the tears of the heartbroken mothers.

I'm the bloodshed of Khuzestan, I'm the gasoline fueling 'the Aban.'

Warning: Massacre! The situation is bad! Bullets shot in the heads of the crowd.

I'm the blood under the boots [of the guards] , Evin strew, Kahrizak flavored.

Lots of [whiplash] lines on my body, wounds on my back, delusions in my head.

I'm the one that whenever spoke and [tried to] fly up, your system injected morphine into my vein.

They stitched my lips on and on, [my mind] started to smoke,

I burned like the forest of Zagros, and your law blew on it.

Every blood you shed and drank, made a sea that I'm drowning in.

I'm burning in this hell, but I'll rise out of the ashes. I'm eternal in this repeated cycle.

I'm born amidst a mandated war. I'm the fist of unity in the face of cruelty,

from [Iran's] North to South to the center of Tehran.

Adhere to the homeland and my promises to it, I'm a hope to the given-ups deep into the prison.

I'm the anthem of pain, the bitter sunset – I'm the illuminator of the world across.

I'm the anger, the bomb, the landmine under the feet [of the guards].

I'm the bitterness and wrath with an unmasked face,

the rage of a generation drowned underwater.

My ancient vendetta from the depth of the chests [of the people].

Let's break da rules, we don't have them.

Promising no more calm dreams for them. Promising to be as harsh as a plague.

We'll unify and batons runaway! Gimme gimme, because Iran is mine.

Gimme gimme, because this land is mine. Gimme gimme, it's totally wrecked but –

gimme cuz I will rebuild it myself! Gimme gimme, because Iran is mine.

Gimme gimme, because this land is mine. Gimme gimme, it's totally wrecked but –

gimme cuz I will rebuild it myself!"

Toomaj: "My flame is born out of the short by yourself,

I'm Mahshahr and its [blood-covered] reeds."

Afrasiab: "History is a poem and I just narrate it,

remember it cuz I'm the death of the dementia!"

Sample: "Remember it"

Toomaj: "History is a poem and I just narrate it,

remember it cuz I'm the death of the dementia!"