Iran cracks down: Singer, team face 74 lashes for singing without hijab

Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi and eight production team members have been sentenced to 74 lashes, a two-year travel ban and a two-year artistic prohibition by a Qom court for performing a viral hijab-free concert on YouTube in December 2024.

A song, a livestream and no hijab. That’s all it took for an Iranian court to order 74 lashes for a 29-year-old singer and her entire crew.

The Criminal Court of Qom Province sentenced Parastoo Ahmadi and eight musicians and production crew members of the “Caravanserai Concert” to 74 discretionary lashes, a two-year ban on artistic activities and a two-year travel ban on charges of “outrageous offense to public decency.”

According to Tribune,the case stems from Ahmadi’s December 2024 performance of the patriotic song Az Khoone Javanane Vatan — From the Blood of the Youth of the Homeland — which she sang without a hijab in an online concert that went viral and has since garnered millions of views on YouTube.

The court cited Article 638 of the Islamic Penal Code and Article 743 of the Computer Crimes Law, and also ordered that the convictions be publicised in public media. The ruling is preliminary and remains subject to appeal.

Human rights groups were swift and sharp in their response. Bahar Ghandehari of the Center for Human Rights in Iran didn’t hold back, saying: “Ahmadi’s punishment of 74 lashes for merely singing and appearing without a hijab is yet another reminder that human rights conditions in Iran have not changed.”

Human rights lawyer Moein Khazaeli also questioned the legal basis, arguing: “Singing, performing music and producing or disseminating musical works by women are not criminalised under Iranian criminal law.”