In recent months, two Iranian singers have been convicted for performing in public. Hiwa Seifizadeh was sentenced to four years in prison, and Parastou Ahmadi to 74 lashes. The two cases embody the restrictions that women face in a country where they are prohibited from singing in front of a mixed audience of men and women.

Published on: 08/31/2026 - 21:19

An increasing number of Iranian women are taking to the streets in Tehran and other cities bareheaded without being subjected to repression from the "morality police." This is a gain for Iranian women that came thanks to the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, which was launched with the killing of the young woman Mahsa Amini in September 2022 due to not wearing the hijab “correctly.”

This new situation is a form of disobedience that has become visible in the public space, and an indication that the authorities no longer have the will or ability to stop this matter.

But the legal framework remains the same, and women who break the rules are constantly subjected to heavy penalties. The recent rulings issued against two female singers are evidence of the continued restrictions against Iranian women.

On August 19, Iranian singer Hiwa Seifizadeh announced on Instagram that she had been initially sentenced to four years in prison, on charges of “incitement to corruption and prostitution.” This was against the backdrop of an artistic concert that she performed in Tehran in February 2025. According to the human rights organization “Hengaw”, this artist was arrested while giving a performance in the “Robero Mansion” hall in Tehran, and she was later released on bail.

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Hewa Seifizadeh, who performs traditional and classical Iranian music, confirmed that she was content with singing a few verses by the Persian poet Saadi. She objected, in a video she posted on Instagram, to the legal characterization adopted by the judiciary, and asked the Court of Appeal to define the behavior that it sees as “incitement to corruption and prostitution.”

She said in a post on Instagram: “I have been active in the Iranian music field for years. I sing and study singing. Despite the restrictions imposed - in Iran - on female singers, I have always tried to continue my passion for art. Singing is my life.”

Accused of "inciting corruption and prostitution"

With eyes full of anger, Hiwa Seifizadeh asks, “What is it about my behavior that ‘incited immorality and prostitution?’ Is it singing verses from Saadi, the great Persian poet? How can this be considered incitement to corruption and prostitution?”

The Iranian artist, 29 years old, spoke on stage about her arrest by security forces at the moment she was singing verses by the aforementioned poet. In a video of that evening, Hiwa Seifizadeh appears wearing a simple black dress, wearing a light scarf, revealing part of the front of her hair, as she sings in front of her audience of women and men, accompanied by her band.

Iranian women have not had the right to sing alone in front of a mixed audience since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. They have the right to do so only if they participate in a singing group or band or sing in front of an audience of women. However, the application of these rules varies depending on location and at the discretion of local authorities. These restrictions are based, in particular, on interpretations of Islamic law.

According to some of these readings, women's singing should not arouse a feeling of pleasure or "erotic arousal" in male recipients. These concepts were raised, in particular, in the 2014 film “No Land’s Song” directed by Ait Najafi, which dealt with the struggle of his musician sister Sarah Najafi to organize a concert in Tehran that would bring together female singers.

These recent rulings are a reminder that women's rights in Iran are still restricted, even though societal norms are evolving, as Iranian women are still subject to an authority that arrested tens of thousands of people during the January protests and thousands of others since the outbreak of the American war against Iran, according to human rights organizations.

Read also: The Iranian judiciary pursues marathon organizers because women participated without wearing a hijab

“Iranian women are braver than they were before”

For Berlin-based Iranian singer Faravaz Farvardin, “Iranian women are braver than they were before.” This does not mean that the development of societal norms in Iran has helped women today enjoy more freedom. In this regard, the Right to Sing Foundation says, “I do not believe that there is more freedom for women in general in Iran. Rather, I simply see that women have become more courageous than they were before.”

Faravaz believes that "it has become difficult for the government to control the bodies and voices of Iranian women." She continues that in the face of this development, the authorities are trying to tighten penalties and "do everything in their power to intimidate women and discourage them from singing."

This artist speaks based on her personal experience with the Iranian authorities. She was arrested in 2016 after she sang and posted a video on the Internet, and two years later, she was sentenced to one year in prison. To avoid this punishment, she fled her country. It is with great regret that she raises what female singers are exposed to in Iran. “Hiwa Seifizadeh has been sentenced to four years in prison. I notice that the penalties are getting more stringent against my fellow artists.”

In diagnosing the situation of female artists in Iran, Faravaz says, “They accuse you as they want, and accuse you of violations, while there is no explicit legal text that prohibits women’s singing per se.” These restrictions are based on readings of Islamic law - Editor. They accused me of broadcasting content of a sexual nature coming from satellite channels considered hostile to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they claimed that I tried to incite women to become as “bad” as me. This type of accusation is regularly directed at female singers.”

Despite the repression, the German-based artist sees the determination of Iranian singers as a ray of hope. “I feel sad for the women who face this situation, but their courage and determination not to give up on their dreams is also a source of hope.”

This hope is clearly embodied on social media. Despite the threats, young Iranian women continue to sing in public and share videos of their performances online. The number of these videos has clearly increased in recent weeks.

74 lashes

Hiwa Seifizadeh is not the only artist who has been tried and sentenced over the past few months. In June, singer Parastou Ahmadi was sentenced to 74 lashes for singing without wearing a hijab during a concert broadcast live on YouTube in December 2024, and watched by thousands of people.

This concert later became a huge success on the Internet, as it has been viewed three million times on her YouTube channel so far, and thousands of additional times on other platforms.

Read also: Iran allows women to obtain a license to drive motorcycles

At least seven others from her team were sentenced, including photographer and videographer Tahmineh Monzavi. All were sentenced to the same punishment, i.e. 74 lashes, in addition to a two-year ban on leaving the country and engaging in any artistic activity.

According to judicial documents seen by The Guardian, the Iranian judiciary accuses the singer and her team of “violating public morals by producing and publishing vulgar and immoral content on the Internet.”

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Commenting on these accusations, Bahar Qandahari, of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, a US-based non-governmental organization, told The Guardian: “Sentencing Ahmadi to 74 lashes simply for singing and appearing without a hijab is new evidence that the human rights situation in Iran has not changed, despite the wartime propaganda campaign carried out by the authorities to improve their image.”

Kandahari added that the discrepancy between official images and judicial prosecutions against artists reveals “the gap between the regime’s propaganda and reality.”

Singer Faravaz Farvardin believes that the authorities' strategy is no longer limited to punishing female artists, but has also targeted those around them. “It has become much more difficult than it was before. The authorities are going so far as to sentence concert organizers and the artists’ staff to prison. They are trying to involve everyone in order to put more pressure on the singers.”

It believes that this strategy may have a very strong deterrent effect. “When you are a musician and you realize that your actions may endanger the lives of others, you are forced to give up what you love to do, because it is not only about you, it is about your friends and those around you.”

Translated into Arabic, edited by: Boualem Ghobshi

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