Pro-authoritarian Iranian religious singer reportedly brutally murdered

Hamidreza Rajabzadeh, a prominent religious singer who had been missing for two weeks, was kidnapped and killed in Iran, the Tasnim newspaper, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, reported on Saturday.

Tasnim reported that Rajabzadeh’s family received a video of his body after the killing. The same video is said to be circulating on social media.

It shows a dying man with a syringe lying on the ground next to him. Iranian social media reports that the singer’s heart was cut out while he was still alive.

Police are investigating the circumstances of the kidnapping and killing and are trying to identify those responsible.

Rajabzadeh was a maddah. Maddah is a Shiite religious singer who performs poetry in praise and mourning songs in honor of the Prophet’s family (Ahl al-Bayt) and the imams, especially Imam Hussein.

Maddahs have the status of pop stars in Iranian religious circles. They perform to large audiences, are often associated with groups with military influence, and many are close to Iran's supreme leader. It is estimated that there are currently around 150,000 Maddahs in Iran, although unofficial estimates put the number at twice that.