Joss Stone Deported from Iran

British singer Joss Stone has been deported from Iran after entering the country, potentially to perform.

In an Instagram post Stone said she knew it was illegal for a female to perform in Iran. “We were aware there couldn’t be a public concert as I am a woman and that is illegal in this country.”

While she is on a world tour and she did say, “our very last country on the list was Iran,” she suggests in her post that she was entering Iran for other reasons. “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 ‘ as we found out when we turned up to the immigration hall. After long discussions with the most friendly charming and welcoming immigration people the decision was made to detain us for the night and to deport us in the morning,” she said.

Stone’s explanation for being in Iran by stating, “I told them my story and explained my mission, to bring good feeling with what I have to give and show those who want to look, the positives of our globe”.

Her post suggests she was going into the country as some sort of missionary. “When I left home for this leg of the tour I felt very emotional and tearful that the end was on my door step, achieving the goal in completeness is something I have dreamed of and worked towards but a part of me didn’t want it to end, this tour has given me more purpose than I have ever had before. Every experience has good all over it and the lightness that has been found in what we assume is a dark place has been eye opening and for me life changing as my understanding of reality is now so much more informed and based on more facts than I previously had to go by. So my small feeling of worry that it would end is no longer because Iran will not allow it to end. Not yet anyway. And that’s ok.

“Its all about the journey not the destination”.

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So , our very last country on the list was Iran . 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 ‘ as we found out when we turned up to the immigration hall. After long discussions with the most friendly charming and welcoming immigration people the decision was made to detain us for the night and to deport us in the morning. Of course I was gutted. So close yet so far, this moment broke a little piece of my heart. Then I realised the silver lining was bright. I told them my story and explained my mission, to bring good feeling with what I have to give and show those who want to look, the positives of our globe. All with the understanding that public performance wasn’t an option in this scenario. I still have to walk forward towards that goal some way some how. And of course music is my driver. Doesn’t mean we have to brake any laws though. There is music everywhere. Even here, we just have to play by there rules and they have to believe we will. It’s a trust thing. They were so kind to us, at one point I started to question it. The question whirled around my head, were they just luring is into a false sense of security so we would walk into our jail cells quietly with out a drama? Nope , these people are genuinely nice kind people that felt bad that they couldn’t over ride the system. They didn’t speak English so well so the translator Mohamed, who clearly had a lovely soul conveyed the message that they hoped we would go to embassy to sort it all out and come back, they were refusing us entry with a heavy heart and were so sorry. After Mo had left, the officers kept telling us sorry. They said sorry all the way through this process and kept saying this till we got on the plane they were sending us away on. We were the ones that should have been apologising for not having our correct paper work. The ball

A post shared by Joss Stone (@jossstone) on Jul 3, 2019 at 4:50am PDT