Iranian singer arrested after performing without headscarf, her lawyer says

A singer in Iran has been arrested after breaking mandatory headscarf laws, performing without the hijab and wearing a dress during a performance.

Parastoo Ahmadi's concert was in contravention of Iran's strict morality laws for women. Source: Supplied / SBS News

A prominent Iranian musician who performed without a headscarf in defiance of the hard-line Islamist regime's rules has been arrested along with two of her band members, according to her lawyer.

Singer Parastoo Ahmadi broke several harshly-enforced taboos by leaving her head uncovered and wearing a dress in the performance, which was recorded and uploaded to YouTube.

Her lawyer, Milad Panahipur, said that she had been arrested by Iranian authorities in the north of the country, while two musicians from her band were arrested at their music studio in Tehran.

The repression of women has ramped up under the regime of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Source: Supplied / Iran's Supreme Leader Office

The lawyer told the news portal Emtedad that he doesn't know where the three are being held and that they appear to have no contact with the outside world.

'The girl who cannot remain silent'

Ahmadi streamed the concert on her YouTube channel late on Wednesday. She wears no headscarf and is bare-shouldered in a long, flowing black dress.

The concert, with no audience present, was shot inside Iran with Ahmadi and her four-man backing band on keyboard, percussion and guitars, playing outside on a stage in the grounds of a traditional caravanserai complex.

Under rules imposed after the 1979 Islamic revolution, women must cover their hair in public and are also not allowed to sing alone in public.

Ahmadi has built a wide following among Iranians for songs posted on her Instagram page, including audio clips and videos of ballads sung indoors without a headscarf supporting the 2022-2023 mass protests against the authorities.

The protests were sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.

Wednesday's video stream appears to be the first time that Ahmadi has recorded a full concert outside, as opposed to the more intimate recitals filmed indoors.

A written message on the YouTube video before the concert starts says: "I am Parastoo, the girl who cannot remain silent and refuses to stop singing for the country she loves".

She tells viewers to "listen to my voice in this imaginary concert and dream of a free and beautiful nation".

In one of the songs, she sings in apparent reference to deadly crackdowns in 2022-2023 and on other protests in Iran: "From the blood of the youth of the homeland, tulips have grown".