In 2024, Parastoo Ahmadi, age 29, livestreamed a video of her singing the patriotic song Az Khoone Javanane Vatan (From the Blood of the Youth of the Homeland) that went viral, generating millions of views. She and several musicians who performed with her was briefly detained before being released, but according to court documents obtained by The Guardian, she received a harsh and brutal punishment by the regime for not wearing a hijab.
Bahar Ghandehari, the director of advocacy at the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, said that the punishment shows the severity of Iran’s human rights abuses. “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, despite the Iranian authorities’ wartime propaganda campaign aimed at improving their image,” said Ghandehari.
Moein Khazaeli, a human rights lawyer counseling Iranian activists, said the sentence had no legal standing. “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’,” he said. “The imposition of a flogging sentence against artists, civil society activists or other citizens is not merely a matter of domestic criminal law,” he continued. “It also raises serious concerns regarding states’ international obligations to prohibit torture and safeguard human dignity. For this reason, numerous human rights organizations consider flogging not a legitimate form of punishment, but rather a form of torture and inhuman treatment.” (Ed note: Will she survive the 74 lashes? She won't be the first, or the last woman to be beaten and raped to death for not wearing a Hijab.) (Source)
