Iranian singer's arrest sparks global backlash over hijab law

According to the Associated Press, Parastu Ahmadi was arrested on Saturday in the city of Sari, the capital of Mazandaran Province in Iran. The singer posted a recording online in which she sang without a hijab, which is against Iranian law. The video amassed over 1.6 million views on YouTube.

Ahmadi's arrest has sparked a wave of support on the internet. Numerous posts condemning the actions of the authorities have appeared on the X platform. Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and activist, emphasized that this is another act of aggression against women.

A historic concert by the forbidden voice of an Iranian woman took place inside Iran, a country where women are jailed simply for singing, she wrote on the X platform.

In Iran, the hijab is a political symbol. After the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, who died after being detained by the morality police, mass protests erupted across the country. Women in Iran have been fighting for years for the right to freely express themselves.

The ban on women singing in Iran dates back to the Islamic Revolution in 1979. At that time, restrictions on women's performances were imposed, which are still in place today. Women cannot perform without a hijab in front of men with whom they are not related. Many internet users are calling for the release of Parastu Ahmadi and her band members. Appeals are emerging online for an end to the repression of female artists in Iran.

Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iranian women enjoyed the freedom to perform and express themselves. Today, under the regime’s archaic rules, women are arrested, and even killed, simply for daring to show their hair or raise their voices, reads one of the profiles on the X platform.