Parastoo Ahmadi, a 29-year-old Iranian singer, and eight production team members including musicians were sentenced by Qom Provincial Criminal Court to 74 lashes each, a two-year ban on leaving the country, and a two-year ban on artistic activities in June 2026 [1, 2, 3]. The ruling came after a December 2024 YouTube livestream concert where Ahmadi performed publicly without wearing a hijab, which Iranian law requires women to wear during public singing performances [1, 3, 4].
Authorities charged Ahmadi and her team with producing and publishing “vulgar and immoral content” online and violating public decency [1, 3, 4]. The concert featured Ahmadi singing powerful, mournful, and patriotic songs, including “Az Khoone Javanane Vatan” (From the Blood of the Youth of the Homeland), but to an empty audience [1, 3, 4]. The video of the concert has amassed over 3 million views on YouTube and other platforms [1, 2, 3, 4]
Ahmadi and her team were detained shortly after the concert in December 2024 but were later released on bail. The case remained under investigation until the sentencing earlier this month [1, 2, 3]. Tahmineh Monzavi, speaking for the team, said, “Two years banned from artistic activities, banned from leaving the country, and 74 lashes for all of us” [1].
Human rights organizations and legal experts have criticized the sentence as lacking legal basis. Moein Khazaeli, a human rights lawyer, said, “Singing, performing music and producing or disseminating musical works by women are not criminalised under Iranian criminal law. Consequently, such activities cannot reasonably be construed as the ‘production, distribution or publication of obscene content’” [5]. Bahar Ghandehari of the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran added the punishment “is yet another reminder that human rights conditions in Iran have not changed, despite the Iranian authorities’ wartime propaganda campaign aimed at improving their image” [5].
Iranian-British actor Nazanin Boniadi condemned the sentence, calling it “a stark reminder that, despite talk in Washington of a ‘new regime’ in Iran, the Islamic republic’s machinery of repression remains unchanged” [5]. Exiled Iranian actor Setareh Maleki praised Ahmadi’s courage, saying, “When I watched the video of Parastoo Ahmadi’s concert, it reignited my spirit of resistance. I repeatedly watched those videos for several days and felt immense pride for her” [6].
