Travel Ban and Imprisonment of Shervin Hajipur

“Shervin Hajipur,” a popular singer, has been sentenced to imprisonment and a ban on leaving the country.

Shervin Hajipur, a popular singer, wrote and released a song following the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests, inspired by posts from Iranian users on social media networks. In this song, he addressed people’s problems. After the release of this song, he was arrested and detained for a period of time, and was released on bail in October of that year.

The song “For” received widespread acclaim both inside and outside of Iran and won the “Song for Social Change” award at the 65th Grammy Awards.

Shervin Hajipur was again sentenced by the Islamic Republic’s judicial system to multiple punishments including imprisonment, creating music against American crimes, and a ban on leaving the country. Shervin Hajipur today, Friday, the 11th of Esfand, published the verdict issued against him by the Revolutionary Court on his Instagram account. In publishing this verdict, he also thanked his lawyers, Messrs. Amir Raisisian, Majid Kaveh, and Adel Alipour, who had worked on his case.

According to the verdict issued against Mr. Hajipur, he has been sentenced to eight months in prison for the charge of “propaganda against the system” and to three years of imprisonment for the charge of “seduction and incitement of people to riots with the intent of disrupting national security,” of which the more severe punishment of three years imprisonment is enforceable.

He has also been convicted of “studying and collecting handwritten materials from two religious and governmental books about women” and publishing it in cyberspace, “creating music about American crimes against humanity,” and “collecting human rights violations by the U.S. government over the past century and publishing it in cyberspace.” Other sentences issued against him include “a two-year ban on leaving the country” and “participation in a training course on behavioral skills and knowledge in the field of art.”

Shervin Hajipur today, in a post on Instagram, referred to “Mehziar,” the manager of his programs, and said: “Dear Mehziar, the manager of my programs, despite having no involvement in the production of the piece ‘For,’ was present at all court sessions as my co-conspirator and did not leave me alone for a moment. I will not mention the name of the judge and prosecutor so that they do not face attacks, insults, and threats, because insult and threat are not part of human conduct, and eventually we will understand each other’s words.”