He plays an anti-veil song and ends up behind bars. Iranian pop singer Mehdi Yarrahi was arrested on Monday, nearly a year after the start of the protest movement sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, according to official media.
“Following the broadcast of an illegal song by Mehdi Yarrahi and the filing of a complaint, the latter was arrested on the orders of the Tehran prosecutor,” said the judiciary’s press organ, Mizan Online.
The day before, this agency had announced that legal action had been taken because of the broadcasting of Rousarito, “an illegal song contesting the morals and customs of Muslim society”. The 41-year-old singer, who lives in Tehran, released this song and its three-minute clip on Friday in favor of the “optional veil”, dedicating it to “courageous Iranian women” who participated in the protest movement.
An artist who supports the protest movement
“I’m this judge’s nightmare, don’t cry,” the singer responded in an Instagram post after the lawsuit was announced. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the wearing of the veil has been compulsory for all women, who must hide their hair in public places. However, more and more women have been appearing bareheaded in the big cities for a year.
Born in the Arabic-speaking province of Khuzestan, in the south-west, Mehdi Yarrahi regularly supports on his Instagram account the protest triggered in September 2022 by the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who died after being arrested by the morality police who reproached for not having respected the obligation of the veil.