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An appeals court in Iran has upheld a sentence of 74 lashes for Parastoo Ahmadi, a prominent Iranian singer who was convicted after performing without the mandatory hijab, according to her legal team. The ruling, confirmed on Friday, brings an end to a legal process that began after a concert video featuring the 29-year-old artist spread rapidly across social media in December 2024, drawing millions of viewers and prompting a judicial crackdown.
The case stems from a livestreamed performance on Ahmadi's YouTube channel in which she sang while wearing a sleeveless dress, without a headscarf. Under Iranian law, public performances by women are prohibited, and all women and girls above the age of puberty are required to cover their hair with a hijab and wear long, loose-fitting garments that conceal their figures. The legal framework is rooted in the country's interpretation of Sharia, and authorities said the performance amounted to "a violation of the country's legal and cultural regulations."
Iran's judiciary moved against Ahmadi after the video went viral, initiating proceedings that led to a criminal court in Qom reportedly finding her and eight members of her band and production team guilty in June. The charges included "offending public decency" through the publication of what the court described as "obscene and indecent material." Alongside the 74 lashes, the defendants received a two-year ban on audiovisual activities and a prohibition on leaving the country.
The defendants appealed the verdict, but according to their lawyers, the higher court rejected the appeal without holding a hearing. One of the lawyers told the BBC that the concert should not have been treated as a crime at all. The attorney argued that the trial court selected one of the harshest available punishments for the charges, even though fines and less severe penalties were options under the law. The lawyer also noted that the Court of Appeal had the discretion to hold a hearing but declined to do so, and suggested the primary aim of the ruling was to discourage similar events from taking place in the future.
The initial sentence provoked widespread reactions among Iranians online and across the diaspora. Googoosh, an iconic exiled Iranian singer, wrote on Instagram at the time, 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 again in the country. Musician Hossein Alizadeh made an unusual public gesture of solidarity, stating that he was "willing to take 70 lashes in Parastoo Ahmadi's place," underscoring the anger and disbelief the case generated among artists.
Human rights organizations also condemned the punishment. Amnesty International warned that flogging constitutes cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment and violates the absolute prohibition on torture and other ill treatment. The organization's statement reflected broader concerns that corporal punishment is being used as a tool of intimidation against women who challenge the country's dress code and against artists who test the boundaries of state control over cultural life.
The case is not isolated. 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. The parallels between the two cases have amplified concerns that the same punishment is being applied systematically to women accused of defying mandatory dress rules.
The ruling against Ahmadi also unfolds against the backdrop of the broader "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement that swept Iran in 2022, following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old Kurdish woman had been detained by morality police in Tehran in September of that year for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly. Her death ignited nationwide protests in which women burned their headscarves or waved them in the air, demonstrations that were met with a violent security crackdown in which hundreds of people were killed. Since then, many women and girls across Iran have stopped covering their hair in public altogether, openly defying the dress code.
Authorities have responded to that defiance with periodic waves of arrests, warnings, business closures, and other punitive measures. The enforcement campaign has at times appeared uneven, shaped by political and security considerations. Earlier this month, conservative politician Gholamali Haddad-Adel, a member of the Expediency Council and the father-in-law of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, said that Iran's war with the US and Israel meant authorities "cannot engage on this front as much as we should for the time being." His remarks suggested that hijab enforcement has been partially deprioritized amid wider regional conflict.
The war he referenced 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, a crackdown that reportedly killed thousands of people. The combination of economic unrest, armed conflict, and internal dissent has placed additional strain on the clerical establishment, even as it continues to pursue cases such as Ahmadi's.
For Ahmadi, the confirmation of the sentence closes one legal avenue but leaves open questions about the broader trajectory of women's rights and artistic freedom in Iran. The 74 lashes, the travel ban, and the prohibition on audiovisual work together represent a multi-layered punishment intended not only to penalize the singer but to send a signal to other women and artists. The lawyers' contention that the punishment was chosen to deter similar events highlights how the case has become a bellwether for the state's willingness to use corporal punishment against perceived challenges to its social and legal order.
The verdict has renewed attention on the gap between official policy and the reality on Iranian streets, where many women continue to appear without headscarves despite the risks. It has also raised questions about the role of the judiciary in cultural affairs and whether international condemnation will have any effect on enforcement practices. For now, the appeals court's decision stands, and Ahmadi and her collaborators face the consequences of a performance that, in the eyes of their lawyers, should never have been considered a crime.
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