Iranian singer taken into custody after virtual performance without hijab

Following her concert, Parastoo Ahmady and two musicians were detained under Iran's morality laws.

Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmady was arrested on Saturday after performing a virtual concert on YouTube without wearing a hijab, in defiance of Iran's strict morality laws.

The 27-year-old, who was detained in Sari City, Mazandaran province, had broadcast the performance just days earlier, attracting over 1.4 million views.

In the concert, Parastoo Ahmady wore a long black sleeveless dress and was accompanied by four male musicians. Despite YouTube being restricted in Iran, the concert quickly gained attention online, amassing 74,000 views within 12 hours of airing.

Parastoo Ahmady's lawyer, Milad Panahipour, expressed confusion over the circumstances of her arrest, stating they were unaware of the specific charges, her current location, or who had taken her into custody.

He also confirmed that two musicians from Ahmady's band, Soheil Faghih Nasiri and Ehsan Beiraghdar, were arrested in Tehran on the same day.

In her concert, Parastoo Ahmady introduced herself by saying, “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.”

Following the broadcast, Parastoo Ahmady's home was raided by security forces, and she was summoned to the Tehran Security Prosecutor's Office for questioning. Iranian authorities have stated that a trial will be opened against her for violating the country's morality laws, which prohibit women from singing in public or performing without the hijab.

The arrest follows a growing trend of crackdowns on women defying Iran's strict dress codes and restrictions on public performances.

A few months ago Iranian security forces cracked down on protests in Kurdish areas of the country on Saturday and briefly detained the father of Mahsa Amini, a year after the young woman's death in custody set off some of the worst political unrest in four decades.

The Revolutionary Guards detained a dual national suspected of "trying to organise unrest and sabotage", the official news agency IRNA reported, one of several arrests of "counter revolutionaries" and "terrorists" reported.

However later the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed to ensure the morality police will no longer "bother" women, in remarks to the media on the second anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death in custody.

Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, died in police custody on September 16, 2022, days after the morality police arrested her in Tehran for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.

Her death triggered months-long protests nationwide, with hundreds of people, including dozens of security personnel, killed. Thousands of demonstrators were arrested.