Legal threats to women in Iran for singing and playing music

                  

NCRI - Women in Iran are being threatened with legal action for singing or playing music in the latest clampdown on civil liberties within the religious dictatorship.

A group of members of parliament in Iran have called for tougher action against women flouting the law.

The spokesman for the parliament’s Security Commission Hossein Naghavi said in an interview with the state-run Mehr news agency: "If government officials do not take into account the remarks by the lawmakers, parliament will use its legal powers to address this problem."

"Women singing or playing a musical instrument is contrary to beliefs and religious values and in many cases, these prohibitions are not respected in this country."

The clerical regime has stepped up restrictions against women's participation in the arts in recent months, cancelling concerts for having women musicians performing or for the use of the term 'concert'.

Women musicians were not allowed to appear on stage beside men in an official sponsored festival in Isfahan on October 12.

Women musicians were instead forced to sit down and watch as the men played.

The female group was promised that they would be allowed to stage their concert later, but that was also later cancelled.

These are also far from isolated incidents of repression against musicians in Iran under the clerical regime.

A group of musicians wrote to Guidance Minister Ali Jannati last December called for an end to repression against musicians, telling him: "The music community has witnessed an upsurge in security measures. The recent arrests are only the tip of the iceberg.

"Hassan Rouhani promised change and open society in his campaign, and the requirement of a license to produce music should no longer be necessary. Moreover, it was hoped that women, who represent the half of society, could actively return to the world of music.

"Unfortunately, not only was there no change, but it music fans have found themselves in prison or detention centers."

The group of musicians also asked the minister for the release of all artists who have been arrested in recent months under the mullah's misogynist laws, which outlaw women from singing in public, and ban musical instruments from being shown on television.