Parastoo Ahmadi’s concert was in contravention of Iran’s strict morality laws for women.
On Wednesday night, Iranian singer and composer, Parastoo Ahmadi, held a ground-breaking performance. The female musician performed in one of Iran’s traditional caravanserai, the inns once used by Silk Road travellers, and was broadcast live on her YouTube channel.
Ahmadi’s performance was in defiance of the strict restrictions placed on female singers in Iran. Women continue to protest against the restrictive gendered morality laws in the country since the ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ emerged in the wake of the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022.
Ahmadi has previously performed the ballad ‘From the blood of the youth of the country’, in support of the movement. Alongside the mandatory hijab law, women are not free to sing publicly in Iran.
Over the past years, women in Iran have been allowed to sing only in performances with only female audiences and listeners.
Ahmadi’s concert this week, although performed to no in-person audience, was live streamed. It was viewed 74,000 times in the 12 hours after the performance, despite being filtered by Iran’s restricted access to YouTube.
In the introduction to her performance, Ahmadi says: “I want to sing for the people I love. This is a right that I could not ignore; singing for the land that I love dearly.”
Following the concert’s widespread sharing online, her home was raided by security agents, and she was summoned to the Tehran Security Prosecutor’s Office for questioning.
The judiciary of Iran has confirmed that its taking action against Ahmadi and her group.
