Hijab-Free Singer Arrested as New “Chastity and Hijab Law” Roils Iran
Breaking news: Singer Parastoo Ahmadi and the two members of her band were released after a brief detention, and following a huge global outcry. It is not clear yet whether charges are still pending.
Two days before the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) was scheduled to implement its draconian new law titled “Chastity and Hijab” (see accompanying article), singer Parastoo Ahmadi live-streamed a virtual concert inside Iran in which she defied both the Islamic dress code and the ban on women singing solo in public. In it, she declared: “I am Parastoo, a girl who cannot stay silent and refuses to stop singing for the people she loves.”
This act of extraordinary bravery thundered across the world, within two days garnering 1.5 million views on her YouTube channel and millions of views of the teaser clip on social media.
Breaking news: Singer Parastoo Ahmadi and the two members of her band were released after a brief detention, and following a huge global outcry. It is not clear yet whether charges are still pending.
Two days before the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) was scheduled to implement its draconian new law titled “Chastity and Hijab” (see accompanying article), singer Parastoo Ahmadi live-streamed a virtual concert inside Iran in which she defied both the Islamic dress code and the ban on women singing solo in public. In it, she declared: “I am Parastoo, a girl who cannot stay silent and refuses to stop singing for the people she loves.”
This act of extraordinary bravery thundered across the world, within two days garnering 1.5 million views on her YouTube channel and millions of views of the teaser clip on social media.
On December 14, the IRI arrested Parastoo in Mazandaran as well as Ehsan Biraqdar and Sohail Faqih Nasiri, two of the four male musicians who accompanied her for the concert, arrested at their school in Tehran. Judicial authorities had previously announced charges against the performers and concert organizers for an “illegal concert” which “did not comply with the country's legal and cultural standards.”
Parastoo Ahmadi and her band were well aware of the risks they were taking. She was arrested in 2022 during the Woman, Life, Freedom (WLF) uprising. The uprising was sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Jina Amini for “improper hijab.” Parastoo was forced to remove a song, “From the Blood of the Youth of the Homeland,” from her platforms. This was one of the songs she sang at this recent live-streamed concert.
Especially in moments in history when a society is torn by wrenching conflicting forces, as is happening in Iran over this new, cruel “Chastity and Hijab” law focused on the mandatory hijab, the courageous actions of people who stand up, risking jail and worse, can have an impact far beyond their numbers by expressing and catalyzing the currents of rebellion and rage which are suppressed and smoldering under the surface. Parastoo Ahmadi and other political prisoners who have risked all to play this kind of role must be defended! The role of all the prisoners who have been on “No to Execution Tuesday” weekly hunger strikes for close to a year now; the amazing role of the leftist women of Evin prison; the many threatened but resolute artists (e.g., Toomaj Salehi, Mohammad Rasoulof, Jafar Panahi, and yes Parastoo and her concert cohort) bring all this to the world with passion, creativity and artistry… all this is a call in our tumultuous and dangerous world—from Iran to the U.S., from Gaza to Lebanon—to rise and shine a brilliant light on the fierce fight to demand a far better world, to support and join them with urgency and determination. These are OUR people.
Contribute and join the IEC’s work laid out at this website.
We demand of the Islamic Republic of Iran:
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW!
We say to the U.S. government:
NO THREATS OR WAR MOVES AGAINST IRAN, LIFT U.S. SANCTIONS!