The Islamic regime ordered that Iranian musician Mehdi Yarrahi be flogged 74 times as punishment for a song encouraging women to remove their state-mandated hijabs, the 42-year-old singer’s lawyer said.
An anonymous official told Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency that the flogging came as punishment for possessing alcohol - not his music.
Attorney Zahra Minoui, who represents Yarrahi, posted on X that Tehran’s punishment was “fully and completely implemented.”
The 'illegal' song
The singer was sentenced in August 2023 to two years and eight months in prison and the floggings by the Tehran Revolutionary Court. Yarrahi was accused of “releasing an illegal song that is against the morals and customs of Islamic society,” the state news agency IRNA said in 2023.
The lyrics of Yarrahi’s song “Roosarito” (Your headscarf), which according to CNN included “Take off your scarf, the sun is sinking. Take off your scarf, let your hair flow,” came as protest erupted across Iran in response to the IRGC’s murder of Mahsa Amini - a young Kurdish woman accused of incorrectly wearing a hijab.
“Don’t be afraid, my love! Laugh, protest against tears,” the lyrics further add.
Following the assault, Yarrahi posted on X/Twitter “You brought glass to break our stone.
شیشه در آورده‌ای تا شکنی سنگ ماسپاس برای حمایت همیشگی شما عزیزان و همراهی صمیمانه وکلای محترم آقای مصطفی نیلی و خانم زهرا مینویی گرامی؛ همینطور رفیق شفیق، آقای کوشان حداد.آنکه حاضر نیست برای آزادی بهایی بپردازد، لایق آزادی نیست.با آرزوی رهایی…#مهسا_امینی https://t.co/IkinrJi9u3 pic.twitter.com/fEKkb8SJ9j
— Mehdi Yarrahi (@yarrahimehdi) March 5, 2025
“He who is not willing to pay for freedom, does not deserve freedom. Wishing for liberation…”
Mostafa Nili, another lawyer representing the singer, told the New York Times that Yarrahi was unable to sit or lean on his back because of the punishment.