Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi, her band, and production team members will be flogged for a concert during which she did not wear a hijab, according to reports.
The Guardian reported that Iranian court documents reviewed by lawyers showed the 29-year-old singer will receive 74 lashes for forgoing the Islamic headscarf required for women under the country’s laws during a December 2024 concert streamed on YouTube that went viral. Band members, who are men, and the production team behind the concert will also be lashed for participating in the concert, the report said.
The court called the concert “vulgar and immoral content” offensive to public decency. The Iranian criminal court also sentenced the musicians to a two-year ban on artistic activities and leaving the country.
During the 2024 concert, Ahmadi sang the patriotic song “Az Khoone Javanane Vatan” (“From the Blood of the Youth of the Homeland”) wearing a black dress and backed by her three band members. Video of the concert garnered more than three million views on YouTube.
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The Iranian religious regime has long been accused of human-rights violations, particularly against women, and harsh, even fatal, crack downs on cultural dissent.
