News of a flogging sentence issued for “Parastoo Ahmadi” and eight musicians and crew members of a virtual concert has triggered widespread reactions from social media users since yesterday. In December 2024, Ahmadi took to the stage with a small group at an old caravanserai without wearing a mandatory hijab, sharing her performance with the public via a YouTube livestream.
She has now been sentenced to 74 lashes, a two-year travel ban, and a two-year ban on artistic activities for the crime of singing. Many social media users have asked: in a country where a woman’s voice is already banned, what artistic activity is Parastoo Ahmadi actually being barred from? Some have also pointed out that the concert of Lebanese female singer Julia Boutros was broadcast during a government loyalist rally during the recent war, questioning why Parastoo’s voice is banned and punishable by flogging.
This is not the first time a sentence of flogging has been handed down to renowned Iranian singers and musicians for performing. Since the 1979 revolution, flogging sentences have repeatedly been issued and carried out against musical artists. IranWire previously reviewed the execution of these sentences in a report, which is republished here.
