Iranian woman jailed after singing Amy Winehouse song without a hijab

A young woman has been arrested in Iran for singing Amy Winehouse’s song ‘Back to Black’ in public without the mandatory hijab.

Zara Esmaeili is known for her performances on the streets of Tehran, in which she defies the Islamic Republic’s laws.

She was filmed singing the 2006 hit a month ago, but her post on Instagram had since gone viral.

The artist was taken into custody on Saturday, with no information available about her whereabouts or condition.

Zara Esmaeili is known for her public performances in the capital Tehran

The arrest has left her family in despair. A source close to the situation confirmed that ‘Zara’s family has been unable to locate her’, Iran International reported.

Faravaz Farvardin, Iranian singer and the founder of the Berlin-based Right to Sing Campaign, condemned the arrest.

She wrote in a statement on X: ‘Zara, an Iranian female singer, is imprisoned in the Tehran Central Detention Center (Fashafoueh) for the crime of singing in public.

‘She is under the pressure of the interrogators to admit connection with activists and musicians outside Iran.

‘This claim is a lie and made by the think tank of the Islamic Republic.’

Zara is understood to have been arrested over the weekend

Faravaz further added that Zara’s ‘boldness reminds me of myself and those scary days of my detention in Iran’.

Other Iranian activists living abroad have been raising awareness about what has happened to the artist, using the hashtag ‘#FreeZara’ in their posts.

Zara is the latest victim of the regime’s escalated enforcement of the mandatory hijab laws.

For decades, both before and after his 1979 revolution, the supreme leader of Iran Ayatollah Khomeini has railed against ‘Westoxication’, the poisoning of the nation by Western culture.

The arrest comes as authorities announced a new plan to curb women’s right of choice amid the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement, which began with the killing of Mahsa Amini in 2022.

Earlier this year, Iran unveiled that it will train 1,500 ‘missionaries’ to promote the culture of chastity and hijab’ with a particular focus on schools and education centers.

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