Iranian singer Shervin Hajipour rose to prominence by receiving a Grammy award from US First Lady Jill Biden. His anthem supported the 2022 protests in Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini. Now, the singer-songwriter has been sentenced to prison for more than three years.
He took to Instagram on Friday to share the judgment with his fans. The Instagram post revealed that Shervin has been given prison for three years and eight months. The judgment claimed Shervin started “propaganda against the system” and “encouraged people to protest.” He was also punished for having no regret or guilt for releasing the anthem.
Hajipour is also banned from leaving Iran for two years. He is also assigned to create a song about “USA’s atrocities against humanity.” Not only this, but the singer needs to “promote the achievements” of the Islamic Revolution based on culture, art, and more. Along with noting the “human rights violations by the U.S. government over the last century,” Hajipour is also asked to outline two books on the place of women in Islam.
In his Instagram post, Shervin thanked his lawyers and those who supported him. He mentioned,
I will not mention the name of the judge and the prosecutor so that they don’t get insulted and threatened, because insults and threats are not in the religion of humanity.
Finally, one day we will understand each other. Until then,
The Grammy-winning song “Baraye,” meaning “For” in English, had highly influenced the Iranians to protest against the atrocities committed by the country’s ruling after the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. The lyrics of the anthem focused on the desire of youth to do several tasks and how the authorities were opposed to it. The US First Lady praised him while presenting the Grammy Awards and called “Baraye” a “poetic call for freedom.”
