Amnesty International said Thursday that Iran must halt any plans to punish a singer and eight other musicians with dozens of lashes each after they livestreamed a performance on YouTube.
Ahmadi livestreamed the concert on her own channel in December 2024, where it has been viewed three million times. The concert featured Parastoo Ahmadi singing powerful, mournful songs to an empty audience, on a dimly-lit stage adorned solely with a large Persian carpet in the grounds of a traditional caravanserai complex. The singer was dressed in a long gown and wore deep red lipstick without adhering to strict Islamic dress code, in a country where women are banned from singing and must cover their hair in public. It has also been viewed many thousands of times more on other channels.
“Iranian authorities must immediately halt any plans to carry out floggings, which amount to torture, against singer Parastoo Ahmadi and eight others in connection to a live-streamed 2024 concert in Qom province,” Amnesty said in a statement posted on Instagram. Amnesty said Iran must “also abolish compulsory veiling and corporal punishment and end the criminalisation of freedom of expression”.
