Iranian singer received 74 lashes for singing patriotic song without hijab

A famous Iranian singer and eight members of a production team were reportedly sentenced to 74 lashes for performing without a hijab.Parastoo Ahmadi, 29, and eight others, including other musicians, received the lashes after she sang a patriotic song at a concert in 2024 without wearing a hijab. 
The group was reportedly charged with offending public decency, as well as “vulgar and immoral content” online, according to The Guardian, which reviewed court documents and publshed a story Thursday on the matter. The victims were sentenced to the lashing, a two-year ban on leaving Iran, and a two-year ban on engaging in artistic activities.
In December 2024, Ahmadi performed Az Khoone Javanane Vatan (translation: From the Blood of the Youth of the Homeland) without a hijab during a livestreamed performance that has since received millions of views. She was detained after the performance but released. Iranian authorities then filed formal charges.
Bahar Ghandehari, advocacy director for the U.S.-based Center for Human Rights in Iran told the Guardian that “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.”
Other Iranian artists expressed fear over the sentence, including Iranian-British actor Nazanin Boniadi. “Accommodating a regime that flogs women for their voices and kills citizens for demanding their rights only emboldens it to continue down its tyrannical path,” she told the Guardian.

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