Following her concert, Parastoo Ahmady and two musicians were detained under Iran’s morality laws.
Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi was arrested on Saturday after she performed a virtual concert on YouTube without wearing a hijab in violation of Iran’s strict morality laws.
The 27-year-old player, who was arrested in Sari, Mazandaran province, published the speech a few days ago, attracting more than 1.4 million viewers.
In that concert, Parastoo Ahmadi wore a long black sleeveless dress and was accompanied by four male musicians. Although YouTube is restricted in Iran, the concert quickly gained attention online, with 74,000 views in the 12 hours it was aired.
Parastoo Ahmadi’s lawyer, Milad Panahipour, expressed confusion over the circumstances of the arrest and said he did not know the specific charges, current location or who was arrested.
He also confirmed that two singers from the Ahmadi group, Soheil Faghih Nasiri and Ehsan Beiraghdar, were arrested that day in Tehran.
At the concert, Parastoo Ahmadi introduced herself: “I am Parastoo, a woman who wants to sing for the people I love. This is my right not to ignore; I sing for the land I love with passion.”
After the broadcast, security forces raided Parastoo Ahmadi’s house and he was summoned to the Tehran Security Prosecutor’s Office for questioning. Iranian authorities announced that they would prosecute her for violating a moral law that prohibits women from singing in public or performing without a veil.
The arrests come as Iran’s strict dress code and crackdown on women limit their public appearances.
A few months ago, Iranian security forces broke up a Saturday protest in the country’s Kurdish region and briefly arrested Mahsa Amini’s father.
The Revolutionary Guards arrested a dual national suspected of “trying to organize riots and riots,” the official IRNA news agency reported.
Later, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the morality police would no longer “harass” women, speaking to the media to mark the second anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death in custody.
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, died in police custody on September 16, 2022, the day after she was arrested by moral police in Tehran for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.
His death sparked months of protests across the country, killing hundreds of people, including dozens of security personnel. Thousands of protesters were arrested.
