Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi has reportedly been sentenced to 74 lashes for singing without hijab.

Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi has drawn international attention following reports that she was sentenced to 74 lashes after performing publicly without wearing a hijab, a move that allegedly violated Iran’s strict dress-code regulations.

According to reports from human rights groups and Iranian media outlets, the case stems from an online musical performance in which Ahmadi appeared without the mandatory head covering required for women under Iranian law. The performance reportedly attracted significant attention both inside Iran and internationally, with many viewers praising her artistic expression while others criticized it as a violation of existing regulations.

Iran requires women to observe mandatory hijab rules in public and in many forms of media. Authorities have increasingly faced criticism from activists and rights organizations who argue that such laws restrict personal freedoms and artistic expression. The issue has remained a source of debate in Iran, particularly following widespread protests over women’s rights in recent years.

Reports indicate that judicial authorities found Ahmadi guilty of offenses related to the performance and imposed the sentence as part of the country’s legal framework. Human rights organizations have condemned the reported punishment, arguing that corporal punishment violates international human rights standards and should not be used against individuals for artistic activities or personal choices regarding dress.

Supporters of Ahmadi have expressed solidarity with the singer on social media, describing her as a symbol of artistic freedom and resistance to restrictive cultural policies. Many users shared clips of her performances and called for greater protection of artists and performers in Iran.

Iranian authorities, meanwhile, maintain that citizens are expected to comply with the country’s laws and cultural regulations. Officials have repeatedly stated that dress-code requirements are part of the legal system and must be observed by all citizens.

The reported sentence has renewed international discussion about freedom of expression, women’s rights, and the treatment of artists in Iran. Advocacy groups continue to monitor the case closely and have called on authorities to reconsider penalties imposed for peaceful artistic expression.

As global attention focuses on Ahmadi’s situation, the case has become another focal point in the broader debate over individual freedoms and cultural regulations in the Islamic Republic.

Parastoo Ahmadi and eight members of a production team played a concert livestreamed on Ahmadi’s YouTube channel in 2024. She sang a historic patriotic anthem, ‘Az Khoon-e Javanan-e Vatan’ (‘From the Blood of the Youth of the Homeland’), and the video of the “Caravanserai Concert” has since gone viral.

According to rights activists, the criminal court of Qom province sentenced her and several musicians to flogging, a two-year ban on leaving the country, and a two-year ban on engaging in artistic activities.

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 “is yet another reminder that human rights conditions in Iran have not changed, despite the Iranian authorities’ wartime propaganda campaign aimed at improving their image.”

She added that the contrast between official imagery and the prosecution of artists exposed “the gap between the regime’s propaganda and reality”.

Reacting to the news, Fatemeh Shams, a professor of Persian Literature at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote on X: “If you label this blatant violence with any name other than “crime against humanity”; if, in the midst of such an overt and undeniable battle against women, you speak of “peace” but fail to hear the voices of the victims; if you pit “national interests” against freedom, justice, human dignity, and the right to life; and if you call yourself “anti-war” but remain silent in the face of a war that rages every day against women, girls, and political prisoners, then you have remained neither faithful to the truth nor to justice.”

Shams added: “Peace is not merely the silencing of missile sounds or the subsiding of bombardment flames. Peace finds meaning only when the bodies of women and innocent protesters are no longer fields for unrestrained violence; when whips, torture, and nooses are no longer tools of governance.”

“True and lasting peace becomes possible only when no woman is branded a criminal for working, studying, singing, or choosing her own lifestyle; and when no innocent human is consigned to dark prison cells and gallows for the crime of protesting, demanding justice, or expressing an opinion.”