Her crime: Singing without a ‘Sharia-compliant hijab.’ Her punishment: 74 lashes.

In a caravanserai older than the regime that now wants her flogged, a woman stood on a Persian carpet before an empty audience — without a hijab — and sang her homeland back to itself.

That, according to Iran’s courts, is “obscene” and deserves 74 lashes.

‘This is a right I could not ignore; singing for the land I love passionately.’

Parastoo Ahmadi is an Iranian singer who first came to the world’s attention during the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests — the uprising that shook Iran after Jina Mahsa Amini died under suspicious circumstances in morality police custody for wearing her hijab “improperly.”

At protests, Ahmadi sang the patriotic anthem “Az Khoon-e Javanan-e Vatan” (“From the Blood of the Youth of the Homeland”) as a rallying cry.