An Iranian court has sentenced singer Parasto Ahmadi and eight members of her production team to 74 lashes each over a 2024 live-streamed YouTube performance, according to court documents cited in reports. The Criminal Court in Qom also imposed two-year bans on leaving Iran and on artistic activity, citing harm to public morals through the production and publication of “vulgar and immoral content” online.
Ahmadi, 29, performed the patriotic song “Az Khoone Javanane Vatan” in December 2024 without a hijab. The livestream went viral, drawing millions of views on YouTube. She was briefly detained soon after the video was published, along with several musicians, and later released. Authorities then opened a formal case against her.
Iran’s judiciary news agency had not officially published the verdict at the time of reporting. Human rights groups and lawyers reviewing the documents said the arrests and cases against artists who publicly challenge the state appear to be part of a broader effort to deter cultural protest.
Bahar Ghandhari of the Iran Human Rights Center in the United States said the punishment was “another reminder that the state of human rights in Iran has not changed” and exposed “the gap between the regime’s propaganda and reality.” Lawyer Moein Ghazali of Dadban said women singing, performing music, or producing and distributing music are not crimes under Iranian criminal law, and argued the acts could not reasonably be treated as the production or publication of obscene material. Actress Nazanin Boniadi called the sentence a sign that Iran’s repression remains unchanged, while actress Setareh Maleki said Ahmadi’s video had reignited her “spirit of resistance.”
