Iranian pop singer Mehdi Yarrahi, who created a song urging women to remove their headscarves, was sentenced to 74 lashes for his support of the “Woman. Life. Freedom” protests. Arrested in 2023 and released last year, he faced his punishment recently, prompting a defensive statement about the value of freedom. Notable figures, including actress Taraneh Alidoosti, condemned the flogging, denouncing the authorities’ actions. Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi described the lashes as a punitive attack against women’s rights in Iran. The protests, ignited by Mahsa Amini’s death in custody, have been suppressed, with thousands detained and many killed.
Tehran:
A well-known Iranian pop artist, who released a song encouraging women to take off their headscarves, stated on Wednesday that he is prepared to “pay a price for freedom” after being sentenced to 74 lashes as punishment by authorities.
Mehdi Yarrahi, who was detained in 2023, was released last year following his conviction linked to his song advocating for the “Woman. Life. Freedom” protests that erupted in 2022, significantly challenging Iran’s clerical regime.
“Today, the final part of the sentence handed down by the Revolutionary Court — 74 lashes — was fully carried out at branch 4 of the Tehran moral security prosecutor’s office,” his attorney, Zahra Minouei, posted on X.
“The case has been closed,” she continued.
In a bold follow-up post, Yarrahi remarked: “The individual who is unwilling to pay a price for freedom does not deserve freedom.”
Yarrahi was apprehended in August 2023 for releasing what the authorities labeled an “illegal song,” specifically “Roosarito” (“Your Headscarf” in Persian), which expressed support for women’s rights to discard the mandatory head covering in public under the Islamic Republic.
The enforcement of his sentence triggered outrage among his supporters.
Taraneh Alidoosti, an actress arrested during the protest movement for appearing without a headscarf, commented on Instagram in reaction to the flogging: “Shame on backwardness, shame on torture, shame on violence, shame on inhumane laws, and shame on our impotence.”
Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, who is temporarily released from incarceration, stated that the flogging was a form of “revenge” for Yarrahi’s advocacy for women in Iran.
“The lashes on Mehdi’s body symbolize a strike against the proud and resilient women of Iran and the vibrant, robust spirit of the ‘Woman. Life. Freedom.’ movement,” she expressed.
Iran’s sharia law allows for flogging sentences that are often imposed by judges, but are not universally executed.
Yarrahi’s 2022 composition “Soroode Zan” (Woman’s Anthem) also emerged as a protest anthem, particularly in university settings.
The death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who died in custody on September 16, 2022, after being arrested for allegedly breaching Iran’s strict dress codes for women, ignited months of protests demanding an end to the Islamic regime.
Although the protests have largely been suppressed following a crackdown that saw thousands arrested, according to the United Nations, hundreds have reportedly been killed by security forces, as per activists’ accounts.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)