Her crime: Singing without a 'Sharia-compliant hijab.' Her punishment: 74 lashes.

In a caravanserai older than the regime that now wants her flogged, a woman stood on a Persian carpet before an empty audience — without a hijab — and sang her homeland back to itself.

That, according to Iran's courts, is "obscene" and deserves 74 lashes.

‘This is a right I could not ignore; singing for the land I love passionately.’

Parastoo Ahmadi is an Iranian singer who first came to the world’s attention during the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests — the uprising that shook Iran after Jina Mahsa Amini died under suspicious circumstances in morality police custody for wearing her hijab “improperly.”

At protests, Ahmadi sang the patriotic anthem “Az Khoon-e Javanan-e Vatan” (“From the Blood of the Youth of the Homeland”) as a rallying cry. Authorities subsequently summoned her and searched her home.

Ahmadi didn’t stop. In December 2024, she filmed the "Caravanserai Concert" at the historic Deir-e Gachin caravanserai, livestreamed to her YouTube channel but with no audience in attendance. She wore a long black dress, her shoulders bare, with deep red lipstick — no hijab.

The 27-minute performance has since drawn over 3 million views.

Ahmadi captioned her video, "I am Parastoo, a girl who wants to sing for the people I love. This is a right I could not ignore; singing for the land I love passionately."

Authorities arrested Ahmadi on December 14, 2024 — a detention the regime dressed up as a “summons” for producing content “contrary to social norms and values,” according to Human Rights Activists News Agency. Two musicians were taken with her.

Within weeks, the group was formally charged at Tehran’s Prosecutor’s Office for Moral Security Affairs and released on bail.

This June, a criminal court in Qom — the same province where a 19-year-old champion wrestler was sentenced to death for attending a protest, then hanged eight days after his birthday — issued its verdict: 74 lashes each for Ahmadi and eight musicians and crew members, a two-year travel ban, and a two-year prohibition on all artistic activity.

Two of the nine defendants weren't even in Iran when the verdict came down, the New York Times reported, citing "a person close to her family."

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Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty Images

According to court documents obtained by IranWire, Ahmadi’s uncovered head and bare shoulders were described as "obscene images," the charges filed under Article 638 of the Islamic Penal Code and Article 743 of the Computer Crimes Law. The ruling is preliminary and subject to appeal.

The indictment also described Ahmadi as "lacking the Sharia-compliant hijab" and "semi-naked," IranWire reported.

The sentence came the day after Iran and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding to end a four-month conflict that killed thousands across the Middle East.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam of Norway-based Iran Human Rights said the regime, "emboldened by the peace deal with the U.S., may intensify its crackdown on women."

The U.S.-Israel strikes that began in late February killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who oversaw Iran for nearly four decades. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei — dubbed the “Gayatollah” — has taken his place as supreme leader, with hard-line IRGC commanders assuming an expansive role running the country.

"They call America the Great Satan. And then they flew to the table and signed a deal with the Devil. But a woman's voice scared them," said Iranian-American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad.

“Will this country ever be fixed one day?” said Mariam, a teacher in Mashhad, according to the Times. “Where in the world is a woman’s singing punishable by lashes?”

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