Sam Gis published an article in Iran newspaper about the book "Women of Iranian Music" written by Touka Maleki. The public prosecutor filed a complaint against Sam Gis because of the article in 2002.

Her trial court was held on April 30, 2002, in Branch 1410 of the Judicial Complex for Government Employees Crimes, presided over by Judge Saeed Mortazavi.

Sam Gis was charged with "blasphemy" and "insulting the prophet" for distorting the book on women's music.

"The author of the book claims that I have distorted the contents of her book and portrayed it as disgracing,” Sam Gis said with regards to her article. “While I have repeatedly stated in my research that no such distortion took place, my understanding about the book is what it conveys to the readers. If there was a problem, these two sections of the book should have been removed.” Sam Gis stated that according to the information she has received, her crime was not considered a media crime, because a media crime is only directed at the managing editor or the owner of the publication.

During several hearings, Sam Gis stated that it was a mistake to include some of the quoted materials in the article and she did not intend to insult the Prophet of Islam or his family.

In March 2002, the case was transferred to Branch 1411 of the Government Employees Crimes Judicial Complex and merged with another case about the book "The Veil and the Male Elite," translated by Maliheh Maghazei, published by Nashr-e Ney. Both cases were about blasphemy. Meanwhile, Majid Sayadi, the then director general of the Book Department of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, had to be held accountable for issuing a license to publish both books.

Shirzad Heidari Shahbaz, Sam Gis's lawyer, clarified about the accusation of blasphemy during her client's accusation hearing: "All the information in Sam Gis's report is in the book and the university dissertation of Touka Maleki, the author of the book. The whole focus of these cases is on blasphemy. Even if the narration in the Women of Iranian Music was considered weak by the experts, in the end, the experts and specialists of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance themselves have stated that its publication does not contradict the existing rules and regulations."

Sam Gis was notified about the court’s verdict on August 9.

According to the verdict, Sam Gis was sentenced to one year in prison on charges of blasphemy, for introducing, publishing an article about and describing the book "Women of Iranian Music" in issue 2098 of Iran newspaper. She was acquitted on the charges of “insulting the prophet” because her malicious intent was not established. The lawsuit also stated that four-fifths of the sentence had been suspended for two years due to the defendant's social status and clean history.

The accusation of "publishing lies" was removed from the list of charges against Sam Giss, because of her defense that the original book was licensed for publication by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

Sam Gis was acquitted of all charges in the Tehran Provincial Court of Appeals on April 28, 2004, for what was called "lack of evidence."

About the blasphemy charges

Sam Giss was prosecuted by the public prosecutor in a blasphemy case with four other defendants. Touka Maleki, author of the book "Women of Iranian Music," Maliheh Maghazaei, translator of the book "The Veil and the Male Elite," "Majid Sayadi," then Director-General of the Book Department of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and Jafar Homaei, the publisher of the book "The Veil and the Male Elite," were all tried in a joint court for "blasphemy" and "insulting the prophet."

In the trial court, Touka Maleki was sentenced to one year in prison, Maliheh Maghazei was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, Majid Sayadi, to one year in prison and permanent deprivation of the position of supervising the publication of books and similar cultural matters, and Jafar Homaei was also sentenced to one year in prison.

Following the appeal, the judge of the Tehran Court of Appeals acquitted Sam Gis and Homaei due to lack of evidence. This sentence was issued on March 28, 2004, and according to it, Majid Sayadi's imprisonment was reduced to three million tomans and his permanent deprivation of the position of supervising the publication of books and similar cultural matters became a one-year temporary suspension. Touka Maleki and Maliheh Maghazaei were also fined one million tomans and 1.5 million tomans, respectively.

Also, all the accused were acquitted of the charges of "insulting the prophet " because malicious intent was not established.

About "Women of Iranian Music" by Touka Maleki

"Women of Iranian Music" was published in 2001 with 2,400 copies being printed by Kitab-e Khorshid Publishing . In the book, Maleki examined the growth and transformation of music in Iran, especially by women.

While introducing Iranian women musicians and singers throughout history, she first points to the relationship between mythology and poetry, literature and music, and then describes the forms and quality of pre-Islamic music.

In the third chapter of the book, titled "Islam," Maleki described the characteristics of music in the period of the Caliphs, Umayyads, Abbasids, Timurids, Safavids, and Zandis. In the following chapters, music and women musicians and singers in the Qajar and Pahlavi eras are introduced, and female composers, musicians, singers, journalists and writers after the Islamic Revolution are included. Finally the book looks at women in Iranian folk and local music.

The book was recalled from stores some time after its publication.