Iran arrests YouTube singer for streaming live performance with out hijab | EUROtoday

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An Iranian underground singer and her band members have been arrested for streaming a stay efficiency on YouTube with out sporting a hijab.

Parastoo Ahmadi and her two band members had been arrested from Mazandaran in northern Iran on Saturday, three days after she streamed the efficiency, her lawyer Milad Panahipour advised the Emteds information web site.

She was launched a day later after questioning and the judiciary stated “acceptable motion” would be taken against Ms Ahmadi and her production team.

Ms Ahmadi performed on Wednesday on her channel on YouTube, which is blocked in Iran but can be accessed through software to bypass a firewall.

Clad in a black sleeveless dress and sporting a necklace in the shape of a map of Iran, Ms Ahmadi wore her long hair loose over the shoulders while performing with four band members.

In the video, which got close to 2 million views, Ms Ahmadi sang folk tunes for 27 minutes.

She called it an “imaginary concert” and invited her YouTube audience to “imagine this beautiful homeland” in Iran.

“I’m Parastoo, a girl who wants to sing for the people I love. This is a right I could not ignore, singing for the land I love passionately,” she wrote in the caption.

“Here, in this part of our beloved Iran where history and our myths intertwine, hear my voice in this imaginary concert and imagine this beautiful homeland. I am grateful to all those who have supported me in these difficult and special circumstances.”

The performance was streamed from an undisclosed location in a caravanserai, a roadside inn historically built along the Silk Road trade route for travellers.

Ms Ahmadi’s lawyer said they were unaware of the charges, the arresting agency, or the location of her detention.

The judiciary said Ms Ahmadi was released on Sunday after being taken for a “briefing session”.

“The Mazandaran Police Information Center introduced that Ms Parastoo Ahmadi attended a briefing session after posting a video deemed opposite to cultural norms and values,” it said. “She has been requested to look earlier than judicial authorities.”

The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, which relies in Norway, stated they acquired stories that two individuals who carried out together with her, Sohail Faghih-Nassiri and Ehsan Beyraghdar, had been additionally arrested.

Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has enforced strict legal guidelines banning solo singing by ladies and mandating the general public sporting of veils.

But a lot of ladies in recent times have defied the bans and appeared with out veils in public locations to protest the legal guidelines.

The legal guidelines drew worldwide consideration in 2022 after Mahsa Amini, 22, died following her detention for not sporting her hijab accurately.

Her dying triggered unprecedented protests that had been outlined by the slogan “Women, life, freedom” and lasted three months.

Iranian authorities stated Ms Amini died because of pre-existing medical situations.

In November this 12 months, a school scholar was arrested after she stripped right down to her undergarments reportedly in protest in opposition to an alleged assault by safety forces for not following strict hijab legal guidelines. The movies of her protest and her arrest went viral, sparking outrage from human rights organisations who demanded her launch.