Who is Parastoo Ahmadi, reportedly sentenced to 74 lashes in Iran for YouTube performance?

Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi has been sentenced to 74 lashes for performing without a hijab in a concert livestreamed on her YouTube channel in 2024. Eight members of a production team, including musicians, have also been sentenced to flogging. The criminal court of Qom province has also been handed a two-year ban on leaving the country and a two-year ban on engaging in artistic activities for offending public decency through the production and publication of “vulgar and immoral content” online. The ruling is yet to be published by the official judiciary news agency. However, some rights groups and lawyers have seen the documents and say it follows a pattern by the Iranian regime against artists to quash cultural dissent.

The 29-year-old singer sang the patriotic song Az Khoone Javanane Vatan (From the Blood of the Youth of the Homeland) in December 2024 without a hijab in the online performance that went viral and has since garnered millions of views on YouTube. Ahmadi and other musicians were detained days later but released. Later, a formal case was filed over the publication of the video.

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Who is Parastoo Ahmadi?

Parastoo Ahmadi was born on March 21, 1997. She graduated with a degree in film directing from Soureh International University, and specialises in Iranian traditional, classical, and regional folk music. An Iranian independent singer, filmmaker, and composer, Ahmadi is a symbol of artistic defiance in Iran. She described her YouTube performance as an "imaginary concert" at the historic Dayr-e Gachin Caravanserai in Iran. Ahmadi wore a moodle strap dress and no hijab, a compulsory item that Iranian women need to wear in public. Iran's strict rules forbid women from singing solo in front of mixed-gender audiences. The song she sang - "Az Khoon-e Javanan-e Vatan", is a historic patriotic anthem heavily associated with the fight for freedom in Iran.

Human rights activists say that Ahmadi's sentencing is proof that the situation in Iran has not changed. Bahar Ghandehari, the director of advocacy at the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, said that Ahmadi’s punishment of 74 lashes has exposed "the gap between the regime’s propaganda and reality". She said that during the war, Iranian authorities carefully tried to improve their image, but the prosecution of the artists has shown once again that the rights conditions remain the same in Iran.