An Iranian underground singer and her band members have been arrested for streaming a live performance on YouTube without wearing a hijab.
Parastoo Ahmadi and her two band members were arrested from Mazandaran in northern Iran on Saturday, three days after she streamed the performance, her lawyer Milad Panahipour told the Emtedad news website.
She was released a day later after questioning and the judiciary said “appropriate action" would be taken against Ms Ahmadi and her production team.
Ms Ahmadi performed on Wednesday on her channel on YouTube, which is blocked in Iran but can be accessed through software to bypass a firewall.
Clad in a black sleeveless dress and sporting a necklace in the shape of a map of Iran, Ms Ahmadi wore her long hair loose over the shoulders while performing with four band members.
In the video, which got close to 2 million views, Ms Ahmadi sang folk tunes for 27 minutes.
She called it an “imaginary concert” and invited her YouTube audience to “imagine this beautiful homeland” in Iran.
“I’m Parastoo, a girl who wants to sing for the people I love. This is a right I could not ignore, singing for the land I love passionately,” she wrote in the caption.
“Here, in this part of our beloved Iran where history and our myths intertwine, hear my voice in this imaginary concert and imagine this beautiful homeland. I am grateful to all those who have supported me in these difficult and special circumstances.”
The performance was streamed from an undisclosed location in a caravanserai, a roadside inn historically built along the Silk Road trade route for travellers.
Ms Ahmadi’s lawyer said they were unaware of the charges, the arresting agency, or the location of her detention.
The judiciary said Ms Ahmadi was released on Sunday after being taken for a “briefing session”.
"The Mazandaran Police Information Center announced that Ms Parastoo Ahmadi attended a briefing session after posting a video deemed contrary to cultural norms and values," it said. "She has been asked to appear before judicial authorities."
The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, which is based in Norway, said they received reports that two people who performed with her, Sohail Faghih-Nassiri and Ehsan Beyraghdar, were also arrested.
Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has enforced strict laws banning solo singing by women and mandating the public wearing of veils.
But a number of women in recent years have defied the bans and appeared without veils in public places to protest the laws.
The laws drew international attention in 2022 after Mahsa Amini, 22, died following her detention for not wearing her hijab correctly.
Her death caused unprecedented protests that were defined by the slogan “Women, life, freedom” and lasted three months.
Iranian authorities said Ms Amini died due to pre-existing medical conditions.
In November this year, a college student was arrested after she stripped down to her undergarments reportedly in protest against an alleged assault by security forces for not following strict hijab laws. The videos of her protest and her arrest went viral, sparking outrage from human rights organisations who demanded her release.
