Parastoo Ahmadi and eight members of a production team were reportedly sentenced in a high-profile Iranian performers flogged sentence that imposes 74 lashes and two-year bans on leaving Iran and on artistic activities for a December 2024 livestreamed performance.
Qom province Court Documents
Qom province court documents, as reported, say the criminal court handed the 74 lashes to Parastoo Ahmadi and eight members of a production team after finding the publication and production of what it called vulgar and immoral content online. The documents also described a two-year ban on leaving Iran and a two-year ban on engaging in artistic activities for each person named.
Parastoo Ahmadi Performance
Parastoo Ahmadi, a 29-year-old Iranian singer, performed the patriotic song Az Khoone Javanane Vatan without a hijab in a livestream on her YouTube channel in December 2024; the video went viral and has since accumulated millions of views. Ahmadi was briefly detained with several musicians shortly after the video's release and was later freed; authorities subsequently filed a formal case over the publication of the video.
Center for Human Rights in Iran Response
Bahar Ghandehari of the Center for Human Rights in Iran said that the sentence was a reminder of persistent rights concerns, writing: "Ahmadi’s punishment of 74 lashes for merely singing and appearing without a hijab 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."
Moein Khazaeli of Dadban argued that criminal law does not outlaw women's singing or producing musical works and said: "Singing, performing music and producing or disseminating musical works by women are not criminalised under Iranian criminal law. Consequently, such activities cannot reasonably be construed as the ‘production, distribution or publication of obscene content'." He added: "The imposition of a flogging sentence against artists, civil society activists or other citizens is not merely a matter of domestic criminal law. It also raises serious concerns regarding states’ international obligations to prohibit torture and safeguard human dignity."
Nazanin Boniadi described the ruling as a reminder that: "The sentencing of singer Parastoo Ahmadi to flogging for the simple act of singing publicly without a hijab is a stark reminder that, despite talk in Washington of a ‘new regime’ in Iran, the Islamic republic’s machinery of repression remains unchanged." Setareh Maleki said the performance had a powerful emotive impact on her, beginning: "When I w"
The court documents and the claims about sentence and bans are presented in tension with the fact that the official judiciary news agency had not yet published the ruling. That gap matters because formal publication and notification are the routine mechanisms through which a judicial sentence moves from internal record to enforceable order; without formal publication, the timing and enforceability of administrative steps tied to a ruling are typically unclear.
Parastoo Ahmadi and the eight production team members are the named individuals affected: the reported punishments combine corporal lashes with two-year travel and work restrictions tied to a widely viewed online performance. Whether the reported ruling will be formally published or can be appealed is the outstanding procedural question in this case.
