Overview
- Rights groups and lawyers say a provincial criminal court in Qom has sentenced Parastoo Ahmadi and eight production members to 74 lashes and to two‑year bans on travel and artistic work for a December 2024 YouTube concert.
- The reporting rests on court documents reviewed by The Guardian and human rights lawyers because Iran’s official judiciary has not published the ruling, and it is not clear whether the corporal punishment has been carried out.
- Authorities charged the group with offending public decency and publishing what officials called vulgar or immoral content online for Ahmadi’s performance without a hijab at the Deyr‑e‑gachin ‘Caravanserai’ concert.
- Legal advocates argue the verdict lacks a firm legal basis because Iranian criminal law does not criminalize women’s singing, and they say flogging amounts to cruel or inhuman treatment under international standards.
- The case has drawn widespread condemnation and is seen by activists as part of a pattern of stepped‑up repression of artists and women in Iran that could further chill cultural expression and prompt appeals or international pressure.