In a country where a woman's silhouette has long been legislated by the state, singer Parastoo Ahmadi performed in a sleeveless dress before millions of online witnesses — and an Iranian appeals court has now confirmed she will receive 74 lashes for it. The court declined even to hear her lawyers' arguments, a silence that speaks as loudly as any verdict. Her case arrives in the long shadow of Mahsa Amini's death and the protests it ignited, reminding the world that the struggle over what women may wear in Iran is, at its core, a struggle over who holds sovereignty over a woman's body and voic
Iran upholds 74-lash sentence for singer who performed without hijab
Parastoo Ahmadi faces 74 lashes and a two-year ban from audiovisual work and international travel; eight band and production team members also convicted and sentenced to flogging.
The court avoided any chance of reducing the punishment by refusing to hear arguments.
Mark
Why did the court reject the appeal without a hearing? That seems unusual.
Mimi
The lawyers believe it was intentional—a way of signaling that the sentence stands and that similar performances won't be tolerated. By refusing to hear arguments, the court avoided any chance of reducing the punishment.
Luke
But we should be careful here. The lawyers are interpreting the court's silence. We don't have a statement from the court explaining why it rejected the appeal without a hearing. That's their theory, not confirmed fact.
Mark
Fair point. So what's the actual legal landscape here? Is 74 lashes standard for this charge?
Mimi
No. The lawyers explicitly said the court had other options—fines, lighter penalties. They chose one of the harshest available. And it's the same sentence Roya Heshmati received for a social media photo.
Luke
Which suggests either consistency in sentencing or a pattern of maximum punishment for these particular violations. We can't quite say which from the reporting.
Mark
What about the broader context? Is this enforcement getting stricter or just more visible?
Mimi
After Mahsa Amini's death in 2022, women started openly defying the dress code. The state has responded with waves of arrests and enforcement. But a government official recently said they can't focus on hijab enforcement right now because of the war.
Luke
Which is interesting—it suggests the state knows enforcement is unpopular and is using external conflict as cover to ease up. Or it's just a practical resource question. Either way, Ahmadi's case shows that when they do enforce, they enforce hard.
Mark
So what happens to her now?
Mimi
She can't work in media for two years, can't leave the country, and faces the physical punishment of 74 lashes. Her band members face the same restrictions.
Luke
And we should note: we don't have reporting on whether the sentence has been carried out yet or when it will be. That's still ahead.
The Pulse
- A 29-year-old singer faces 74 lashes for performing in a sleeveless dress on YouTube — a punishment her own lawyers describe as deliberately chosen for its severity, not its proportionality.
- The appeals court refused to hold a hearing at all, a procedural silence that her legal team reads as a warning shot aimed at every artist in Iran who might consider following her example.
- Eight band and production members were convicted alongside her, widening the punishment into a collective deterrent against the entire infrastructure of independent artistic expression.
- Prominent figures inside and outside Iran — including legendary singer Googoosh and musician Hossein Alizadeh, who offered to take the lashes himself — have rallied in protest, while Amnesty International calls the sentence outright torture.
- The ruling lands amid a paradox: a conservative politician close to the Supreme Leader has admitted that wartime pressures have forced the state to deprioritize hijab enforcement — yet the courts are simultaneously delivering some of their harshest sentences to enforce it.
In a country where a woman's silhouette has long been legislated by the state, singer Parastoo Ahmadi performed in a sleeveless dress before millions of online witnesses — and an Iranian appeals court has now confirmed she will receive 74 lashes for it. The court declined even to hear her lawyers' arguments, a silence that speaks as loudly as any verdict. Her case arrives in the long shadow of Mahsa Amini's death and the protests it ignited, reminding the world that the struggle over what women may wear in Iran is, at its core, a struggle over who holds sovereignty over a woman's body and voice.
Parastoo Ahmadi was 29 years old when she livestreamed a concert on YouTube in December 2024, singing in a sleeveless dress before an audience that would eventually number in the millions. Under Iranian law, that performance was a crime. A criminal court in Qom convicted her and eight members of her band and production team of offending public decency, sentencing her to 74 lashes, a two-year ban from audiovisual work, and a prohibition on leaving the country. Her collaborators received comparable sentences.
When her legal team appealed, the higher court dismissed the case without hearing a single argument. Her lawyers told the BBC that the choice of punishment — among the harshest available, when fines and lesser penalties existed — was deliberate. The message, they said, was not about Ahmadi alone. It was about every artist who might consider doing what she did.
The response from Iran's cultural world was swift. Googoosh, the iconic singer who left Iran long ago, called for an end to restrictions on women's dress and artistic freedom. Musician Hossein Alizadeh publicly offered to receive the 74 lashes in her place. Amnesty International condemned flogging as torture, prohibited under international law without exception.
Ahmadi's case echoes that of Kurdish-Iranian activist Roya Heshmati, who received the same sentence in early 2024 for posting a photo without a hijab and later described the experience in harrowing detail — the forced scarf, the whip across her shoulders, back, and legs.
The broader context is one of sustained tension. Mahsa Amini's death in 2022 at the hands of morality police ignited mass protests; hundreds were killed in the crackdown that followed. Many Iranian women have since stopped covering their hair entirely. Authorities have responded with arrests and closures. Even now, with Iran engaged in military conflict and facing internal unrest, the courts are signaling that the enforcement of dress codes remains non-negotiable — and that the cost of defiance will be measured in lashes.
Parastoo Ahmadi sang in a sleeveless dress during a livestreamed concert on her YouTube channel in December 2024. The video spread across the internet, accumulating millions of views. Under Iranian law, women are forbidden from performing publicly without a hijab and modest clothing. The judiciary took notice and opened a case against the 29-year-old singer, framing her performance as a violation of the country's legal and cultural standards.
In June, a criminal court in Qom convicted Ahmadi and eight members of her band and production team of charges that included "offending public decency" through the distribution of "obscene and indecent material." The court sentenced her to 74 lashes. She was also banned from working in audiovisual media and prohibited from leaving Iran for two years. The same penalties applied to her collaborators.
On Friday, Ahmadi's legal team filed an appeal. The higher court rejected it without holding a hearing. Her lawyers told the BBC that the decision appeared designed to send a message. "In our view, holding the concert was not a crime at all," one attorney said. The lawyer noted that judges had other sentencing options available—fines and less severe penalties—but chose one of the harshest available. The court's refusal to hear arguments, the lawyer suggested, signaled that deterrence was the real aim: to prevent other artists from attempting similar performances.
The initial sentence triggered a wave of responses from within Iran's artistic community and from exiled figures. Googoosh, a singer who left Iran decades ago, posted on Instagram calling for an end to restrictions on women's dress and artistic freedom. Hossein Alizadeh, a prominent musician, publicly offered to take 74 lashes in Ahmadi's place. International human rights organizations condemned the punishment. Amnesty International stated that flogging constitutes torture and violates absolute prohibitions on cruel treatment.
Ahmadi's case is not isolated. In January 2024, Kurdish-Iranian activist Roya Heshmati received the same sentence—74 lashes—after posting a photo on social media showing her without a hijab. She described the experience in detail: a female officer forced a scarf onto her head at a prosecutor's office in Tehran, then a male officer struck her shoulders, back, hips, and legs with a whip.
Iranian law, based on the country's interpretation of Islamic law, requires all women and girls past puberty to cover their hair and wear loose, long clothing. Enforcement has intensified in cycles. In 2022, the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman held by morality police for wearing her hijab "improperly," sparked nationwide protests. Women removed their headscarves in public acts of defiance. Security forces killed hundreds during the crackdown. Since then, many women have stopped covering their hair altogether, and authorities have responded with arrests, warnings, and business closures.
The timing of Ahmadi's case reflects broader pressures on Iran's government. Earlier this month, Gholamali Haddad-Adel, a conservative politician and father-in-law of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, acknowledged that Iran's military conflict with the United States and Israel has forced authorities to deprioritize hijab enforcement. That war began in late February, weeks after security forces had violently suppressed protests over economic hardship, killing thousands. Even as the state faces external threats and internal unrest, the case against Ahmadi shows that enforcement of dress codes remains a priority—and that courts are willing to impose severe punishment to maintain it.
Notable Quotes
In our view, holding the concert was not a crime at all. The trial court imposed one of the harshest punishments for these charges, although fines and less severe penalties were also available.— Ahmadi's lawyer to BBC
May these dark days come to an end, and may women regain the freedom to choose how they live and dress, and may artistic expression once again flourish in our precious homeland.— Exiled singer Googoosh on Instagram
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