An Iranian singer was sentenced to 74 lashes for performing a song without a hijab
The Criminal Court of Qom Province sentenced 29-year-old Iranian singer Parasta Ahmadi and eight members of her music team to 74 lashes, as well as a two-year ban on leaving the country and participating in artistic activities. The reason for the harsh punishment was an online concert in December 2024, during which the singer performed the patriotic song “Az Khoone Javanane Vatan” without a hijab in a live broadcast on her YouTube channel.
The republic’s official judicial news agency has not yet published this ruling; however, human rights activists familiar with the case emphasize that such arrests of artists indicate an intensification of the suppression of cultural dissent in the country.
Iranian authorities have brought official charges against the artists, including offending public morality by creating and publishing “vulgar and immoral content,” after the broadcast garnered millions of views online. Immediately after the video was released, the singer and her musicians were briefly detained by security forces but were later released pending a final court verdict. Currently, the defense team for the convicted performers is attempting to appeal the court’s decision, arguing that the performance was exclusively patriotic in nature and did not contain any calls to disrupt public order.
The song “Az Khoone Javanane Vatan” (From the Blood of the Homeland’s Youth) is dedicated to the young martyrs of the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1905–1911, when Iran became the first country in the Islamic world to adopt a parliamentary system.
Source: The Guardian.
Iran executed activist Abbas Akbari Fayzabadi, whom the authorities accused of organizing violence during the January protests.
In 2025, 2,159 people were executed in Iran—the highest number in the country since 1981 and a record for a single country over the past 45 years.
