Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Iranian musician arrested for working with women

Iranian musician arrested for working with women

Iranian musician Mehdi Rajabian says he is facing trial on charges of aiding women to sing and dance.

The 30-year-old, who has already been imprisoned twice on charges relating to his music, says he was arrested two weeks ago over his latest project.

The album, featuring music from across the Middle East, will include female singers - who are banned in Iran.

Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance have not yet responded to the BBC's request for comment,

"This regime wants to stifle my voice," Rajabian told the BBC. "They insist that I stop playing music."

The musician, who is based in Sari in northern Iran, says he was summoned by the security police on 10 August, who arrested him and took him to court.

He says the arrest came after he gave an interview to the BBC about his forthcoming album, which will feature female singers; and the publication of a video featuring renowned Persian classical dancer Helia Bandeh interpreting his music.

Rajabian says a judge told him his latest project "encouraged prostitution". He was freed only because his family was able to post bail.

"If I make music, they will immediately remove my bail," said the musician. "I have to wait for the day of judgment for now."

The BBC has contacted Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance for comment and clarification on the case, but has yet to receive a response.

Under Iran's penal code, singers and dancers can be prosecuted if authorities deem their acts "indecent" or "immoral". Women are theoretically allowed to perform in a choir or as a solo vocalist for a female-only audience, but permission is rarely granted.

Rajabian is far from alone in facing legal action for his art. Last May, the female singer Nezzar Moazzam was summoned to court for singing for a group of tourists while wearing traditional costume.

A few months earlier, composer Ali Ghamsari was banned from performing "until further notice" for refusing to remove a female singer from the line-up of a concert in Tehran.


Negar Moazzam was summoned to court after uploading a video to her Instagram account


Rajabian has been jailed twice before for his music. The first time, in 2013, he was kept blindfolded in solitary confinement for three months.

He was later sentenced to six years in Tehran's notorious Evin prison, emerging on probation only after going on hunger strike, and attracting the attention of Amnesty International and freedom of expression campaigners Freemuse.

On release, his activities were closely monitored by the regime. Rajabian says he now lives in near-isolation.

"Coronavirus days are a normal day for me because I have been completely alone at home for years," he says. "It was as if I had been transferred from a smaller prison to a larger one."

The musician says fellow artists are afraid to support him and, earlier this month, a music journalist was arrested and detained in Evin for several days after mentioning women's music and Rajabian's name in an article.

"Now the pressure is on me not to even produce another work of art," he says. "It means complete death. In general, their plan is my complete destruction."


Rajabian knows he is risking further jail time by pursuing music


However, the pressure has not deterred him. Last year, he released a new album, Middle Eastern, with Sony Music in Turkey.

Recorded in secrecy, it features contributions from almost 100 artists in 12 countries, including Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. Many of the musicians faced similar persecution to Rajabian. One of the songs was recorded during an air strike, another by a fleeing refugee in a boat.

But it was the decision to work with "a number of female singers from various Middle Eastern countries" (although none of them are in Iran itself) on a new album that attracted renewed attention from Iran's authorities.

"Why is the Iranian government so frightened? This is the question for me," he says.

The answer, he believes, is that any art that provokes thought is considered dangerous.

"Art without a message and philosophy is needed more for fun than for thought," he says. "I do not want them [the regime] to enjoy my art, I want philosophy and pain from the heart of my music to be like a trumpet for humanity.

"Even if I go to prison hundreds of times. I need female singing in my project, I need female dance along with philosophy and thinking.

"Whenever I feel the need to produce this music, I will definitely produce it. I do not censor myself."

Iran's underground music scene - Behzad Bolour, BBC Persian

After the 1979's Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini banned the broadcast of music on TV or radio, arguing that it made the human brain "inactive and frivolous". Only revolutionary music and religious songs were considered permissible, and almost all Iran's pop singers left for the USA.

Gradually, classical Persian music, under the banner of Sufi music began to resurface. But in the 1990s, a parallel Iran was developing under the skin of the major cities, with young people crafting their own instruments and making their own unofficial songs (which were only broadcast on the BBC Persian request programme).

In early 2000, after a relaxation on the laws around music, the pop market opened up in Iran and, through the internet, underground music which was percolating behind closed doors began to spread out. Bands were playing rock, fusion, rap and alternative folk. And they all talked about a different Iran, an Iran that wants to be modern and level with the rest of the world.

Mehdi Rajabian is from the later generation of these Children Of The Revolution - and an important underground voice in Iran's music scene.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×