Iranian officials have flogged a popular singer who posted a song online urging women to remove their mandatory headscarves, over a conviction for possessing and consuming alcohol, his lawyer and authorities said. Mehdi Yarrahi was flogged on Wednesday, his lawyer Zahra Minuei wrote on X. Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency, quoting an anonymous official, said the sentence was for him drinking and possessing alcoholic drinks, not his music. The lashes were "fully carried out ... at the Tehran Morality Security Prosecutor's Office, and Mr. Mehdi Yarrahi's case has been closed," Minuei said, per the AP.
The New York Times reports that the 43-year-old Yarrahi received 74 lashes in total. Yarrahi wrote and performed the song "Roosarito"—Farsi for "Your Headscarf." The music video urged women to remove their hijabs and featured uncovered women dancing. Yarrahi's initial arrest in August was believed to be linked to the video, which is still available online. Yarrahi wrote on X, apparently after the flogging: "He who is not willing to pay a price for freedom is not worthy of it."
On the streets of Iranian cities, it's becoming more common to see a woman passing by without a mandatory headscarf, or hijab, after the second anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini and the mass protests it sparked. Amini, 22, died on Sept. 16, 2022, in a hospital after her arrest by the country's morality police over allegedly not wearing her hijab to the liking of the authorities. The protests that followed Amini's death soon grew into open calls of revolt against 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The monthslong security crackdown that followed killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained. Only Afghanistan and Iran mandate women wear the hijab.
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