The Iranian judiciary, after announcing the opening of an investigation, arrested Parastoo Ahmadi.
The Iranian singer and composer performed last Wednesday 11 December in the “Caravanserai Concert” in an ancient Iranian caravanserai, singing a song of freedom in an elegant black dress, with “clothes that do not comply” with the law imposed by the Islamic Republic .
The concert, held at an undisclosed location without an audience, was streamed on his YouTube channel and attracted huge attention on social media. Introducing her concert, Ahmadi declared: “I am Parastoo, a girl who wants to sing for the people I love. This is a right that I cannot give up: I sing for the land that I love passionately. In this corner of our beloved Iran, in a place where history and myths are intertwined, listen to my voice in this imaginary concert and dream of this beautiful homeland.”
Her words are a powerful reminder of the indomitable freedom that pulsates in the veins of Iranian women, who courageously oppose the regime of the fundamentalist government, despite threats, warnings, violence and punishments.
The live broadcast of the performance coincided with the night in which the Islamic Republic was to announce a new law on the hijab, to repress resistance to the compulsory veil, which provides for whippings, prison sentences of up to 15 years in prison, serious sanctions, up to the death penalty for anyone who transgresses it. The “Law for the Protection of the Family through the Promotion of the Culture of Chastity and Hijab”, composed of 74 articles, is expected to come into force on December 13, 2024, and also provides for restrictions on education and employment for women and the girls who oppose the veil. The provision also means that women and girls who send veilless videos of themselves to non-Iranian press or who participate in peaceful activism risk the death penalty.
This concert had a strong symbolic challenging value, for a free Iran, and resulted in immediate legal action against the artist, the musicians who played with her Ehsan Beyraghdar, Soheil Faghih Nasiri, Amin Taheri and Amir Ali Pirnia, and the organizers of the event. The Iranian news agency Mizan reported the official condemnation : “a group led by a female singer produced music without respecting legal and religious rules”, breaking the news without mentioning the artist’s name. The judiciary also added that the performance, in addition to violating “legal and religious standards”, also lacked adequate authorization, threatening “adequate measures”. Unfortunately, Ahmadi has now been arrested.
Parastoo Ahmadi is known for her anti-regime protest performances, highlighting the lack of freedom of expression in Iran and the government’s repression of protests, including the killing of dissidents and demonstrators; for her “provocative” performances has already been under investigation.
Exiled Iranian activist Masih Alinejad described the concert as “historic”, saying that Parastoo Ahmadi’s voice “is a weapon against tyranny, her courage a hymn to defiance”.
Although the Iranian regime has tried to show a more human face in recent weeks, temporarily releasing the activist and Nobel Prize winner Narghes Mohammadi and the famous rapper Toomaj, detained for the contents of his songs, it continues to violently repress any attempt to opposition and does not suspend the executions to death of prisoners.
As soon as she was released from prison, Mohammadi sang the slogan “Zan-zendeghì-azadi”, “Woman-Life-Freedom”, and showed herself with a photo of Mahsa Amini, to underline her inexhaustible commitment to the cause of freedom. Anahita Hamti, film and theater actress, also showed her shaved head in a striking gesture to protest against the “new rules” on hijab and afaf: “I cut my hair totally so that no one commits a sin and does not go to hell.”
As Amnesty International states “Compulsory veil laws violate many rights, including those to equality, freedom of expression, religion and belief, privacy, equality and non-discrimination, personal and bodily autonomy, causing severe pain and suffering amounting to torture or inhumane treatment.”
But Iranian women are increasingly determined to pursue their right to freedom. Repression does not work against the will to be free.
