He lives in Germany. But the musicians in this country Shahin Najafi is virtually unknown. His audience was the 31-year-old in Iran and exile among young Persians, but still keep a connection zm Iran. They depend on Najafi songs that deal with the misfeatures in his home, sexual corruption, violence and oppression. The song "We Are Not Men" criticizes the oppression of women. And "Neda" that he dedicated young woman who was killed on the edge of a demonstration against the regime in Iran, and thus a symbol of the "green movement", which was formed in response to her opinion, rigged elections of 2009. Raised in the province of Gilan, studied sociology Najafi, before he celebrated as a musician with provocative lyrics first successes. When the pressure becomes too great to him in Iran, he fled to Germany.Seven years ago he came to Cologne, where there is a large Iranian community - and making his band Tapesh 2012 simply music. In Iran, though his records are prohibited. But because his songs are downloaded from the Internet and sold on the black market, they still find a wide audience. The Islamist regime has been unable to stop this influence, even if it is constantly trying to block critical Web sites and social networks.
Popular in the underground
He is a superstar - but popular in the underground. "He speaks a language understood by the youth," says the filmmaker Iranian-Ali Samadi, who also lives in Cologne. The songs by Shahin Najafi please him well: "Provocative and challenging," he finds it. His latest piece (see text below) has Shahin Najafi, however, now brought death threats. In the song "Imam Naghi" Najafi Shahar calls the Imam of Naghi - one tenth of the twelve imams of the Shiites in Iran believe - and tells him he should not hesitate to do away with the many misfeatures in the country: with oppression and sexual violence , with the trend of cosmetic surgery, or with imported cheap goods from China that are flooding the Iranian market. The song is hefty, but clearly meant satirically. And it has struck a nerve. Shortly after he had published on the Internet, it was several hundred thousand times and clicked on Internet forums and social networks hotly debated. But also angry backlash was not long in coming. On a Web page that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards should be close, even death threats appeared against the musician. The authors relied on the fatwa of a cleric, Ayatollah Ali Safi of the Grand-Golpayagani. The 92-year-old cleric had recently declared in a fatwa, who insult the religion who deserved God's punishment. The opponents of Shahin Najafi now see it as carte blanche to tell the singer to be outlaws. Bluntly, they are calling for his murder, a bounty of $ 100,000 was exposed to it. The musicians take the threats very seriously, a planned European tour, he has canceled. But on the other hand, he seeks also aware of the public to now point out his threat.
Memories of Rushdie
Even if things are different, this case calls but bad memories of the affair alive by the British writer Salman Rushdie, which in 1989 exposed the relations between Iran and the West difficult. At that time the venerable revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder and until his death, the undisputed leader of the "Islamic Republic of Iran," the novel "The Satanic Verses" as an opportunity to impose a death sentence to the authors. Twelve years had to hide from potential captors Salman Rushdie, declared before Iran not to pursue further the verdict, but he is still under police protection.
Shahin Najafi now fears a similar fate. Whilst it is the fatwa of a single priest, who is just one of around 30 grand ayatollahs, do not equate with the attitude of the entire regime. On the contrary, experts suggest the threats against the singer rather than a side effect of a power struggle is raging behind the scenes within the regime. Radical groups might try it, drive the country back into a confrontation with the West after it has just restarted until the nuclear talks. "It would be a huge problem for Iran if the matter would escalate now," says the director Ali Samadi. "He would be held accountable for it." He asked to link the human rights in Iran with the negotiations on its nuclear program.
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