Iran Appeals Court Upholds 74 Lashes for Singer Parastoo Ahmadi Over Hijab-Free Performance

An Iranian appeals court has confirmed a sentence of 74 lashes for a well-known singer who appeared without the compulsory hijab during a virtual concert, her legal representatives have said. The ruling closes off one avenue of challenge for Parastoo Ahmadi and eight members of her band and production team, all of whom were convicted in connection with the performance.

The case stems from a concert Ahmadi livestreamed on her YouTube channel in December 2024. During the performance, the 29-year-old singer wore a sleeveless dress and did not cover her hair, in direct contravention of Iranian laws that prohibit public performances by women and require them to wear headscarves and modest clothing. The video circulated widely online, accumulating millions of views and drawing the attention of Iran's judiciary.

Authorities responded by launching proceedings against Ahmadi and her colleagues, describing the performance as being "in violation of the country's legal and cultural regulations." The prosecution marked one of the more high-profile enforcement actions linked to Iran's strict dress code, which has been a flashpoint in the country for years.

According to reports, a criminal court in Qom found Ahmadi and the eight others guilty in June of charges that included "offending public decency" through the publication of "obscene and indecent material." Alongside the 74 lashes, the court imposed a two-year ban on audiovisual activities and a two-year prohibition on leaving the country. The penalties represent some of the harshest available for the charges in question.

On Friday, defence lawyers said the appeal was "rejected" by a higher court without a hearing being held. One of the lawyers told the BBC that the concert should never have been treated as a criminal matter at all. "In our view, holding the concert was not a crime at all," the lawyer said, adding that the trial court had selected one of the most severe punishments available even though fines and lighter penalties were options.

The lawyer also criticised the appeals process itself, noting that the higher court chose not to hold a hearing despite being entitled to do so before upholding the original judgment. In the legal team's assessment, the severity of the outcome appears intended to discourage similar events in the future, rather than to reflect the specific circumstances of the case.

News of the initial sentence prompted widespread reactions among Iranians on social media, reflecting deep divisions over the country's mandatory dress code and the limits placed on artistic expression. The exiled singer Googoosh, a celebrated figure in Iranian music, posted on Instagram expressing hope that "these dark days come to an end," and that women would regain the freedom to choose how they live and dress, and that artistic expression would flourish once more in Iran.

Another prominent musician, Hossein Alizadeh, voiced solidarity with Ahmadi in striking terms, saying he was "willing to take 70 lashes in Parastoo Ahmadi's place." Such statements underscored the symbolic weight the case has acquired within Iran's cultural community, where the enforcement of dress rules has frequently collided with the careers of performers and artists.

Human rights organisations have also condemned the sentence. Amnesty International warned that "flogging constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and violates the absolute prohibition on torture and other ill treatment." The organisation's position reflects a broader international consensus that corporal punishment of this kind breaches human rights standards.

The case is not the first instance of judicial flogging tied to dress code enforcement in Iran. In January 2024, Kurdish-Iranian activist Roya Heshmati was flogged 74 times after being convicted of "violating public morals" over a photograph posted on social media that showed her without the hijab. According to the Kurdish rights group Hengaw, Heshmati said a female officer forcibly placed a scarf on her head at a prosecutor's office in Tehran before a male officer whipped her shoulders, back, hips and legs.

Under Iranian law, which draws on the country's interpretation of Sharia, women and girls above the age of puberty are required to cover their hair with a hijab and wear long, loose-fitting clothing designed to conceal their figures. Enforcement of these rules has varied over time, but the obligations themselves remain enshrined in the legal system.

The current climate traces back in part to events in 2022, when protests swept across Iran following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman detained by morality police in Tehran in September of that year for allegedly wearing her hijab "improperly." During the nationwide demonstrations against the clerical establishment, women burned their headscarves or waved them in the air, and hundreds of people were killed in a security force crackdown.

In the years since, many women and girls have stopped covering their hair in public altogether, openly defying the dress code. Authorities have answered with periodic waves of arrests, warnings, business closures and other punitive measures, though the scale and consistency of enforcement have fluctuated.

Earlier this month, conservative politician and Expediency Council member Gholamali Haddad-Adel, who is also the father-in-law of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, addressed the issue of hijab enforcement. He said Iran's war with the US and Israel meant authorities "cannot engage on this front as much as we should for the time being." The war began at the end of February, only weeks after Iranian security forces violently repressed another wave of mass protests sparked by the country's economic crisis, killing thousands of people.

The confirmation of Ahmadi's sentence therefore lands at a moment when Iranian authorities are juggling domestic dissent, economic strain and external conflict. For her supporters and fellow artists, the ruling reinforces concerns about the narrowing space for cultural expression, particularly for women. For the judiciary, it signals a continued willingness to apply strict penalties in cases involving the dress code, even as enforcement priorities shift amid wider national pressures.