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Features

The Rapper Who Killed His Stepfather

August 24, 2017
Shima Shahrabi
4 min read

One 16-year-old Instagram user has this message on his feed in large font: “Defending your mother is not a crime!” The page includes a music video by Hamid Sefat, a 24-year-old Iranian rapper, who sings while moving his arms around: “Woe is me, mother...”

Sefat was arrested last week and charged with the murder of his stepfather. A statement from the Tehran Police summarized the charge and the circumstances leading to Sefat’s arrest.

“Hamid Sefat’s brother called him from abroad and told him about a quarrel between their mother and her husband [their stepfather],” a police spokesperson reported to the website TV Plus. “Hamid went to the family home, and after arguing with his stepfather, the two got into a fight. Hamid and his mother leave after the fight. A few hours later, neighbors took Sefat’s stepfather to the hospital and three days later [on August 19] the stepfather died. The coroner announced that the death was caused by a blow to the head with a heavy object and Sefat has been charged with murder.”

Fans of Hamid Sefat are rushing to his defense online. They are sharing his songs; and searches for the(Persian) hashtags such as “#HamidSefatNotAMurderer”, “#HamidSefatIsNotAlone”, “#HamidSefatNotGuilty”, “#FreeHamidSefat” and “#PrisonNotForArtists” turn up hundreds of pictures and posts in his support. Many say that Sefat was trying to defend his mother.

His supporters are not limited to teenagers and fans of rap music. Many other artists, from singers to actors, have joined the wave of support for Sefat, sharing his picture and encouraging messages.

“You did what you did for your mother’s sake,” wrote Amir Abbas Golab, another young singer and a friend of Sefat. “Hold your head up. Everybody makes mistakes and that was a bad one. I beg God to help you ... In your songs you talk about forgiveness and mercy and changed many lives. We are all behind you.”

“It Could Have Been Me!”

The actress Naimeh Nezamdoost asked her 336,000 Instagram followers to not judge the rapper. “My dear Hamid Sefat: I hope you will be saved from this catastrophe as soon as possible,” she wrote. “I understand you and I know that it could happen to any of us.”

“I pray for you,” wrote Maryam Kavyani, another actress who has 146,000 followers on Instagram.

And Sahar Ghoreishi, an actress with more than 5.8 million Instagram followers, went even further. “I say this proudly,” she wrote, adding that “If such a thing happened to my loved ones, to my mother or my brother or my father, if I hear or witness their pain, their screams and their wailing ... I would become [another] Hamid Sefat.”

Sefat’s own past words have been brought to his defense. “My parent’s divorce was one of my greatest mental tortures,” he previously said in an interview. Now parts of this interview, next to pronouncements about defending one’s mother or honor, are being shared online.

M.Y., a sociologist in Tehran, finds the wave of support for Sefat’s actions worrying. “In a healthy society, ugly and evil acts such as theft and murder must be condemned,” says M.Y. “Unfortunately, the irrational support for Hamid Sefat shows that some of our young people and teenagers have not been brought up as healthy citizens for a healthy society.”

This sociologist believes that defending Sefat with pronouncements such as “I would do the same if I were in your place,” or “defending your mother is not a crime,” or “you did it to defend your honor” amounts to promoting violence, adding that nothing destroys a society like violence.

“I believe that if our young people had developed good judgement,” M.Y. says, “they would have tried to console the family of the victim, and soothe them, so that if Sefat is convicted of murder the family could forgive him. That way, they would save the life of their favorite singer. But unfortunately, this is not what has happened.”

Does it even help?

Can such support on Instagram help to reduce the punishment of this young singer? Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabi, an Iranian lawyer, believes that it not only fails to help Sefat but worsens his situation by angering the victim’s family. “Experience has shown,” Tabatabi says, “that turning such cases into media sensations does not influence the judiciary. It only makes them more determined to show that all the commotion will not influence justice and their work.”

But Farshid Rofugaran, another Iranian lawyer, has a different view. “I believe that the court will be more careful because of the support,” he says, dismissing the contention that the murder was justified because it was an honor killing.

“This is a stupid view and is unacceptable,” Rofugaran adds. “Murder must be condemned and it has nothing to do with honor. Honor killings are just premeditated murders.”

Hamid Sefat is more famous today that he was last week. Many who did not know him are now listening to his songs. In an Instagram post, Sefat’s family thank his supporters, and the post has received more than 100,000 likes. He may have committed murder – but he is more popular than ever.

 

 

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