An Iranian Grammy Award winner said on Monday he was pardoned from serving a three-year sentence over his song that became an anthem to the 2022 protests that rocked the country following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.
Shervin Hajipour, who was presented his Grammy in 2023 by U.S. first lady Jill Biden, uploaded a video story on Instagram, looking overcome with emotion and saying: “A new order had been issued regarding amnesty, and it included my case which has been completely dismissed, adding he learned about the case dismissal on Sunday.
His song, “Baraye,” or “For” in English, begins with: “For dancing in the streets,” “for the fear we feel when we kiss.” The lyrics list reasons that young Iranians posted online for why they had protested against Iran’s ruling theocracy after Amini died for not wearing her mandated headscarf to the liking of security forces.
The protests quickly escalated into calls to overthrow Iran’s clerical rulers. A subsequent security crackdown killed more than 500 people, with more than 22,000 detained.
On Friday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pardoned and commuted the sentences of 2,887 prisoners. It is unclear whether Hajipour’s case was part of the amnesty order.
Two months ago, Hajipour announced that he was ordered to head to prison to serve a sentence of three years and eight months which a court handed him in March. He had already served some prison time but was out on bail in 2023 pending the court’s decision.
Avid to acquire Wolftech Broadcast Solutions
Avid® has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Wolftech Broadcast Solutions, a company known for cloud-based multiplatform planning and publishing news production solutions. This strategic move illustrates Avid’s focus on transforming news, sports, and live production workflows.
The acquisition will allow Avid to combine its digital-first, end-to-end media solution with Wolftech’s expertise in story-centric workflow management. The integration of Wolftech and Avid is intended to enable news organizations to rapidly deliver stories through multiplatform amplification, significantly increasing efficiency and improving remote collaboration.
Avid and Wolftech are committed to openness and customer choice. Wolftech already integrates with a wide range of tools, including Avid MediaCentral, and will continue to build integrations with Avid solutions and other industry-leading platforms. With this acquisition, Avid will deepen the integration between the two toolsets while continuing to partner with a wide range of media production tools and newsroom systems. Existing Wolftech customers will benefit from Avid’s global scale for customer support and professional services.
The planned acquisition of Wolftech positions Avid to deliver a unified suite of integrated tools with unique AI-powered features that will enable news production organizations to:
--Break Down Silos: Unlock creativity and operational clarity by breaking down silos between digital, broadcast and long-form teams.
--Increase Efficiency: Get the most out of resources with sophisticated planning and analytics tools.
--Focus on the Story: Capture audiences and amplify stories faster across any distribution platform.
--Get Teams Interacting:... Read More