Tehran-based singer Anita Papist was sentenced to 74 lashes for “offending public decency” by Branch 1088 of the Second Criminal Court at Tehran’s Ershad Judicial Complex, the musician and Iran rights groups announced over the weekend.
Papist, who posts videos of herself online singing in English and Persian without a head covering, confirmed that her passport was confiscated and her mobile phone blocked, punishments that the Iranian legal advocacy group Dadbaan said were “imposed solely for posting her artwork on social media.”
Dadbaan noted that singing and producing music are not themselves a crime, and said the sentence against Papist was “in conflict with Iran’s international obligations in the field of freedom of expression, freedom of cultural activities, and the prohibition of cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment.”
Iran cracks down on female singers
In recent months, the group said, Iran has cracked down significantly on female singers, even illegally taking control of artists’ personal social media accounts and publishing legal messages without their consent.
Papist, thanking her fans for being her voice, reshared an image made by one of her followers with tape over her mouth and the caption “every woman who creates with her art and deserves respect. Let’s stand with artists, not against them. No injustice.”
'Obscene and immoral content'
Papist, insisting on her Instagram story that she was uninterested in claiming asylum abroad, said she made her sentence public in support of Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi. Ahmadi and eight members of her production and music team were ordered last month to be lashed 74 times by the Qom Provincial Criminal Court over allegations she offended “public decency through the production and publication of obscene and immoral content on cyberspace platforms.”
The “obscene and immoral content” was a video of Ahmadi singing a nationalist song without a hijab.
The court prosecuted them under Articles 638 of the Islamic Penal Code and 743 of the Computer Crimes Law, BBC Persian reported.
Article 638 of the Islamic Penal Code criminalizes the performance of any “open religious taboo” or acts that offend public decency, such as appearing without a hijab. Article 743 criminalizes the promotion or encouragement of corruption, prostitution, or acts deemed offensive to public morality via digital networks.
Iranian-American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad wrote in response to Papist’s sentence, “In the middle of a war, the Islamic Republic still finds time to flog this young woman for music. Anita Papist, a young Iranian singer, has been sentenced to 74 lashes. Her crime? Singing and uploading her video on Instagram.
“The regime confiscated her passport. Blocked her phone. Now they want to silence her voice. This is called gender apartheid. A total apartheid against women.”