New Wave of Crackdown on Street Musicians
The Islamic Republic Judiciary has blocked the Instagram pages of some street musicians and artists who performed music in public.
Asou Kahzadi, Naghmeh Morad Abadi, and Mehrdad Mahdi are among the musicians whose Instagram pages contained a message from Iran’s Cyber Police.
The message stated that these pages have been blocked by the order of the judiciary due to “criminal content” and the “individuals involved in the crimes” are under investigation.
Recently, the provincial attorney of Isfahan’s Revolutionary Court reported of forming a case against “Negar Moazam”, a female singer whose video of singing in Abyaneh village went viral on Instagram.
In another event in Qazvin province, female musicians were denied entrance to a charity event.
Ahmad Shokri, the organizer of the charity event told ILNA: “This group (the female musicians) is the most respected traditional music group in Qazvin province who agreed to perform for the charity for free. But in the middle of the event, by the dean of Azad University of Qazvin, they were not allowed to perform on stage.”
He added: “They were not even allowed to sit in the audience, and because of that many of the artists left the event in protest.”