[Today's Prayer] Singer Who Sang "Take Off Your Scarf and Let Your Hair Fly" Lashed in IranAn Iranian pop musician who supported the 'hijab protests' for women's rights has been flogged 74 times.

According to the New York Times (NYT) on the 6th (local time), Iranian authorities recently carried out the flogging of famous singer Mehdi Yarrahi (43). Yarrahi's lawyer stated that Yarrahi is in a state where he cannot lean back or sit due to the flogging.

(Omitted)

The flogging of Yarrahi is due to the hijab protests that swept Iran in 2022. These protests, which spread after the suspicious death of a woman in her 20s who was arrested in downtown Tehran for not wearing her hijab properly, continued for six months. At that time, Yarrahi released a song praising women who refused to wear the hijab and revealed their hair. The music video, which included the lyrics "Take off your scarf and let your hair fly," also featured women shaking their heads without hijabs. Although Yarrahi released the song only online to avoid censorship, he was immediately arrested.

Iranian authorities stated that Yarrahi released illegal songs that violated the morals and norms of Islamic society. The Iranian Revolutionary Court initially sentenced Yarrahi to two years and eight months in prison, but later reduced the sentence to one year of house arrest and 74 lashes due to deteriorating health.

Yarrahi stated through X (formerly Twitter), "Those who are not prepared to pay the price for freedom do not deserve to enjoy it." He added, "I pray for liberation."

Source: Yonhap News

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. (2 Corinthians 7:10)

I hear the news that an Iranian singer who released a song to support the hijab protests in Iran was flogged 74 times. Lord, it has been almost three years since a woman who did not wear a hijab was arrested and died under suspicious circumstances, but the regulation of women's clothing in Iran is getting worse.

In Iran, the government is severely punishing acts that violate the morals and norms of Islamic society using Islamic law. May the Holy Spirit lead the Iranian government to repent of the sins of oppressing women's freedom and suppressing freedom of expression with Islamic law.

Also, have mercy on the Iranian women who are forced to wear hijabs just because they were born as women in Iran. May all the worldly worries that bound Iranian women be removed, and may the worries they experience according to God's will ultimately lead to the grace of salvation for women.

May the Iranian church and the global church rise up and testify to the gospel of Jesus in Iran, so that Iranian women can find freedom not in anything else, but only in the truth. In doing so, may all the evil laws in Iran be abolished and only the kingdom of God come to Iran.

Raise up the Iranian youths who are prepared to pay any price to gain freedom as God's army, so that they may follow Jesus, who saved them from sin, and rise up as the Lord's army, who are not afraid of death and prepare for the Lord's second coming to the ends of the earth!