Danish Dari German Spanish French Turkish Arabic
Click here to go to start page Click here to go to start page
Search Sort content by country/region Sort content by artist Sort content by subject
News stories world-wide
News 2009
News 2008
News 2007
News 2006
News 2005
News 2004
News 2003
News 2002
News 2001
About music censorship
Artists on censorship
About Freemuse
Publications
Study room
Activities
Links
Press room

NEWS
21 November 2008

Iran:
Trial against two Kurdish singers

Two Kurdish singers are allegedly to be sentenced for ‘propaganda against the [political] order’, reported Shâr News — a local news agency from the predominantly Kurdish city of Saqqez in western Iran — on 17 November 2008

The musicians Seyyed Ali Hosseini and Mohammad Zarifiyan paid tribute to “a singer associated with a group opposed to the Islamic Republic” at a commemoration in September 2008, during the Ramadan month. According to Shâr News they can expect to be sentenced between three months and one year in prison. Their case was brought to Freemuse's attention by the Danish PhD Fellow Rasmus Christian Elling.





Click to read more about music censorship in Iran
Iran

Sources

Shar News – 17 November 2008:

اختصاصی شارنیوز

Copenhagen University Middle East and Islam Network – 20 November 2008:

'Clampdown on alternative voices'


Go to top
Related reading on freemuse.org

Iran: More than 20 musicians banned from radio
Government-owned radio stations in Iran have been ordered to stop broadcasting certain singers’ music and certain songs, reported Ilna and Iran Human Rights Voice.
30 November 2009
Iran: 12 'satanist' musicians reportedly arrested in Orumiyeh
An Iranian newspaper reported that 12 musicians accused of promoting satanism have been arrested in northwest Iran
02 November 2009
Iran / UK: 'The exile factor' in The X Factor tv show
Iranian singer Behrouz Ghaemi fled Iran to pursue his singing dream in the UK. On 29 August 2009 he became famous overnight in a tv-show watched by 11.8 million viewers
07 September 2009
Iran: Five-year prison sentence for performance of Koranic verses
The Iranian singer Mohsen Namjoo has been sentenced - in absentia - to five years in prison for disrespecting religious sanctities
17 July 2009
Iran: Music gives hope
Austin Dacey's article about the underground music scene and the system of music censorship in Iran, based on an interview with the rock band Kiosk
17 July 2009
Iran: Musicians respond to the crisis
Despite a general ban, rock music has become one of the most vibrant forces for critiquing the various ills of Iranian society, writes music researcher Mark Levine
23 June 2009
Iran: Rock concert raided, 104 arrested
A concert in Shiraz was raided by an Islamist militia, and 104 people arrested, on the grounds of being 'immoral', reported Jam-e Jam newspaper on 27 May 2009
08 June 2009
Iran: Film about Iranian music censorship awarded, musicians exiled
The Iranian film ‘No One Knows About Persian Cats’ was awarded at Cannes Film Festival. But two of the musicians which it features now must go in exile
27 May 2009
Iran: Rock band tells its story of censorship and imprisonment
The Iranian rock band Font, winner of Britain’s first-ever Immigrant Song Contest, were imprisoned in August 2007 merely for performing their style of music.
18 May 2009
Iran: Film about music censorship shown on Cannes Film Festival
Kurdish-Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi launches a two-hour film about music censorship in Iran which features banned musicians and singers
15 May 2009
Iran: 13 musicians arrested in Isfahan
Brigadier general Mer-Abbas Sofivand told a daily newspaper that 13 musicians have been arrested, and 90 CDs seized by police in Isfahan
02 March 2009
Human Rights for Musicians – Impressions & Descriptions: Mahsa Vahdat
Testimonial by Mahsa Vahdat in the anniversary publication 'Human Rights for Musicians - Ten Years With Freemuse'
30 January 2009
Iran: Rap singer believed to be arrested
The alleged arrest of rapper and singer Tataloo is debated in online Persian rap forums. Rumours says that Tataloo has received a three-year jail sentence
21 November 2008
Iran: Trial against two Kurdish singers
Two Kurdish singers are to be sentenced for “propaganda against the [political] order”, reported Shâr News from Saqqez in western Iran on 17 November 2008
21 November 2008
Iran: Organiser of music concerts executed
On 4 August 2008, 28-year-old Yaghub Mehrnahad, a education activist and concert organiser, was executed, reported several human rights groups
21 August 2008
Iran: Setar master openly critised ban on women vocalists
Musician Mohammad-Reza Lotfi said at a press conference that he wishes to eliminate Iran’s prohibition on solo vocal performances by women
28 April 2008
Iran: Organiser of music concerts sentenced to death
The death sentence on civil rights activist Yaghub Mehrnahad highlights how many Iranians must live with the risk of execution for expressing their views
19 February 2008
Iran: Official campaign against rap music
Iranian police have been instructed to close rap studios in an official nationwide campaign to stamp out "obscene" rap music, reported Agence France Presse and BBC News
04 December 2007
Iran: Musician bypasses censorship on the internet
To Iranian artist IO the publishing of his new album is a victory over censorship. He could not have it published in Iran, but now it is available world-wide via the internet
27 September 2007
Iran: 'Rap-e-Fars' – Persian rap and the Iranian rap scene
Although the Persian rap, 'Rap-e-Fars', is illegal in Iran it is very popular among Iranian teenagers. An article about the underground Iranian rap scene
17 September 2007