Coldplay perform Iranian protest song – that’s been BANNED by the Islamic Republic

Coldplay voiced their support for people in Iran taking part in protests at their sold out concert in Argentina by playing a banned song from the country.

The band performed ‘Baraye’, which has become the anthem of the Iranian protest movement, at their Buenos Aires concert.

Exiled Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, who has not been allowed to return to Iran since appearing in an American film in 2009, sang the Farsi song with the band.

Protests have been going on for over month following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who reportedly died in custody after being tortured by Iranian morality police for not wearing a hijab properly on September 16.

Amini was initially arrested in Tehran for an alleged breach of Iran’s strict dress rules for women based on Islamic sharia law.

‘We would like to do something to show that we support all the women and everybody fighting for freedom in Iran’ frontman Chris Martin said to the 72,000 strong crowd. 

The concert was live broadcast into 80 different countries and was seen in more than 3,400 cinemas – which was part of the reason the band decided to make a statement. 

Coldplay performed a song that has been adopted by young Iranian’s as a protest anthem following a month of demonstrations sparked by 22-year-old Mahsa Amini’s death (pictured performing in Buenos Aires)

Mahsa Amini died in custody on September 16 after she was detained in Tehran by Iranian morality police

At least 253 protestors have been killed across Iran, including 34 children and 19 women, since the ongoing nationwide protests began on September 16.

The band played the banned protest song Baraye by the Iranian singer Shervin Hajipour, which has become the anthem of the protests.

The song was uploaded by him on September 27 and was viewed 40 million times in 48 hours before he was arrested by the Iranian government on September 29.

Chris Martin referred to the restrictions of freedom of expression that Gen Z in Iran are facing when addressing the crowd in Argentina. 

He said: ‘maybe you see on the news right now that there are so many places where people are not able to gather like this and be free to be themselves.

‘Whether that’s to listen to what they want to listen to, to wear what they want to wear, to think what they want to think, to love who they want to love and particularly at the moment this is very clear in Iran.’

Golshifteh Farahani, who has not been allowed to return to Iran since 2009,  sang the Farsi song with Coldplay 

Shervin Hajipour wrote and composed Baraye inspired by the tweets of ordinary Iranians, who shared their grief and pain caused by the actions of the Iranian state, following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.

Chris Martin said he and the band thought ‘what could we do’ to show support to the protestors and women in Iran fighting for their freedom.

Martin said ‘We decided that there’s a very beautiful and famous song now in Iran by a sweet guy called Shervin Hajipour, he has a song called Baraye and we asked our friend Gol if she would come and sing this with us’.

Chris Martin explained ‘Now, this song is in Farsi so I can’t really sing it, ha ha, but we’re going to sing it together and we send this with love from Buenos Aries.’