Iranian singer Mehdi Yarrahi given 74 lashes over protest song urging hijab removal

Independent

06-03-2025

Mehdi Yarrahi, an Iranian musician known for protest songs that call out his country's strict dress codes for women, was given 74 lashes as part of a punishment.
His lawyer, Zahra Minuei, confirmed in a post on X that the punishment had been carried out at Branch Four of the Moral Security Prosecutor's Office in Tehran, marking the end of a criminal case against Yarrahi.
'The flogging sentence has been carried out,' she wrote, according to an online translation.
Yarrahi, 42, was arrested in August 2023 and then sentenced by the Tehran Revolutionary Court to two years and eight months in prison in addition to 74 lashes. He ended up serving a year of his sentence and served out the rest of his term in house arrest with an ankle monitor after posting bail.
'We wanted to lift the bail, but they said it was conditional on the flogging sentence being carried out,' Ms Minuei said.
At the time, Yarrahi had written on X: 'I am ready to receive the sentence of 74 lashes, and while I condemn this inhuman torture, I make no request to cancel it.'
Yarrahi was accused of 'releasing an illegal song that is against the morals and customs of Islamic society ' following the release of his song 'Your Headscarf (Roo Sarito)' in September 2023.
The song was released on the first anniversary of the 'Women, Life, Freedom' uprising, which began after the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating Iran 's mandatory headscarf law.
'Take off your scarf, the sun is sinking/Take off your scarf, your pleasant perfume fills the air/Take off your scarf, let your hair flow/Don't be afraid, my love! Laugh, protest against tears,' the lyrics go, according to a translation by Genius.com.
After news of his flogging broke, Yarrahi posted a message on his social media, thanking his lawyers and writing: 'You brought glass to break our stone…Whoever is not willing to pay the price for freedom is not worthy of it.'
Under Iranian law, based on Tehran's interpretation of Sharia, women and girls who have reached puberty must cover their heads with scarves and bodies with long, loose-fitting clothing.
The rules were made even stricter last year after Iran's parliament passed a new 'hijab and chastity' law that would increase the prison sentence to 10 years and a fine for dressing "inappropriately" in public places.
Iranian human rights activist and Nobel peace prize laureate Narges Mohammadi condemned the flogging in a statement, writing: 'The execution of Mehdi Yarrahi's flogging sentence is retaliation for his support of the women of Iran. The lashes on Mehdi's body are a whip against the proud and resilient women of Iran and the thriving, powerful spirit of the 'Woman, Life, Freedom' movement.
'On the eve of 8 March, by rejecting the 'gender privilege' in singing, Mehdi Yarrahi once again stood alongside protesting, justice-seeking women and the people in pursuit of their demands.
'May we, as women, protest the regime's brutality against a dissenting artist, strengthening the chain of solidarity and putting an end to the misogynistic religious tyranny. Mehdi Yarrahi stood against the suppression of women's voices – let us be his voice.'
Actor Taraneh Alidoosti, who spent almost three weeks in jail over her support for the 2022 protests, posted in support of Yarrahi on Instagram, writing: 'Shame on backwardness, shame on torture, shame on violence, shame on anti-human laws, and shame and disgrace on our helplessness', according to an online translation.
Last year in October, 23-year-old Roya Heshmati, a vocal critic of the country's controversial hijab laws, was whipped 74 times by the police for 'violating public morals' by sharing a picture in which her head was not covered.
In May 2024, renowned director Mohammad Rasoulof was sentenced to eight years in prison, flogging, a fine, and the confiscation of property after the court found his films and documentaries, along with his public statements, to be 'examples of collusion with the intention of committing a crime against the security of the country'.