This Image Led to a Photographer Being Sentenced to 74 Lashes in Iran
This striking portrait of an Iranian singer in a black dress, her hair uncovered, has come at a devastating cost for the photographer who captured it — resulting in a sentence of 74 lashes, a travel ban, and a prohibition on artistic activity.
Tahmineh Monzavi is an acclaimed Iranian documentary photographer who has had her work exhibited in museums across the world. Monzavi’s work focuses on women and marginalized communities in the Iranian capital of Tehran.
In December 2024, Monzavi photographed and filmed a concert by Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi, who is known in the country’s dissident circles. During the performance, which was livestreamed on Ahmadi’s YouTube channel, the singer performed the patriotic song Az Khoone Javanane Vatan (From the Blood of the Youth of the Homeland) without wearing a hijab. Monzavi’s photographs from the concert included the image (above) that was later exhibited at Photo London.
The concert quickly went viral on YouTube, and Ahmadi was briefly detained and charged alongside several musicians shortly after its release, before being freed. However, according to a report by The New World, Monzavi has now also been charged by Iranian authorities over filming and photographing the performance.
The New World reports that Monzavi, along with other members of the production team, has been accused of “offending public decency” and the publication of vulgar and immoral “content online.” For the offence of taking photographs, Monzavi has now been detained, given a two-year travel ban, a two-year restriction on “artistic activity” and sentenced to be viciously flogged with 74 lashes. The punishment is carried out with a three-foot whip, and the pain is reportedly so intense that some victims lose consciousness after only a few strikes.
‘No One Can Separate Me From Photography’
In 2012, Monzavi was previously arrested and imprisoned after her photographs of drug users and sex workers in poorer areas of Tehran were deemed “dangerous to society” by Iranian authorities. She spent a month in solitary confinement, and the experience was so traumatic that she said she lost her “courage as a documentary photographer” and stepped away from her work for two years.
But Monzavi tells The New World that photography remains a powerful way for her to express what she and others in Iran are experiencing.
“No one can separate me from photography. I want people to understand what we are feeling,” she says. “You know, many people, many young girls, paid their blood for us. They didn’t think that they would be killed in the street. It is a horrible, horrible business but their spirit will survive. They are strong.”
Image creditsAll photos by Tahmineh Monzavi.
