Joss Stone was on the final leg of her mammoth world tour when she got deported from Iran yesterday. According to the singer, she was detained for the night and then deported by Iranian authorities when they refused to believe she wouldn’t attempt to play a public show in the country.
In Iran, it’s illegal for women to perform solo shows. While it unclear why Joss was there, she said she was simply planning to “bring good feeling with what I have to give and show those who want to look, the positives of our globe.”
In a video posted to Instagram, she wrote: “We were aware there couldn’t be a public concert as I am a woman and that is illegal in this country. Personally I don’t fancy going to an Iranian prison nor am I trying to change the politics of the countries I visit nor do I wish to put other people in danger. However, it seems the authority’s don’t believe we wouldn’t be playing a public show so they have popped us on what they call the ‘black list”. Dressed in a white headscarf, she went on to say “so close yet so far, this moment broke a little piece of my heart.”
At the time of posting, she was about to board a flight to Iran’s Kish Island, an economic-free zone that allows all nationalities without a visa but it can be dangerous for Westerners. This is not the first time Joss has ventured to unsafe lands, as she performed in Syria earlier this year.
Joss began her tour in March 2014 and has since visited 199 countries, including North Korea. Her last three shows were scheduled in Saudi Arabia, Libya and Yemen.
At the root of this story is a pressing reminder of the rights women are being denied in the Middle East.