On June 18, Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi was sentenced to 74 lashes for performing without a hijab. She was sentenced during a closed trial in Qom Province, along with eight members of her band and production team. Ahmadi and her colleagues also face a two-year ban on performing or leaving the country.

Ahmadi’s sentencing stems from a recorded 2024 performance of the patriotic song, “Az Khoone Javanane Vatan (From the Blood of the Youth of the Homeland),” which later went viral on social media. The punishment is the latest example of the Iranian regime’s brutal repression of both women’s freedoms and creative expression.

The Islamic Republic has previously sentenced musical artists to severe punishment for their artistic expression. In 2024, HRF represented Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi who was charged with “corruption on earth” and handed a death sentence, later overturned, for releasing a song in support of the Woman, Life, Freedom protests. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled that Salehi’s detention was arbitrary.

HRF stands with Iranians resisting the Islamic Republic and all artists who use their creativity to resist authoritarianism worldwide.