PARIS, Oct 2 — Amnesty International said yesterday that Iran must halt any plans to punish a singer and eight other musicians with dozens of lashes each after they livestreamed a performance on YouTube.
The concert featured Parastoo Ahmadi singing powerful, mournful songs to an empty audience, on a dimly-lit stage adorned solely with a large Persian carpet in the grounds of a traditional caravanserai complex.
Ahmadi was backed by a pianist, drummer, guitarist and bassist and all the musicians wore black.
The singer was dressed in a long gown and wore deep red lipstick without adhering to strict Islamic dress code, in a country where women are banned from singing and must cover their hair in public.
