It is indeed a bizarre world when a teenage girl is arrested for posting dancing videos on Instagram. Especially, when teenagers the world over are posting pictures and videos every minute, from hanging out with friends to dressing up.
But Iran has such touchy sentiments that it arrested Maedeh Hojabri for posting dance videos on Instagram. She has more than 6,00,000 followers. Hojabri and three other individuals had been detained on similar charges in recent weeks before being released on bail. She had posted around 300 videos on her account, many of which showed her dancing in both Iranian and Western styles in her room. She also appeared in videos without wearing the obligatory Islamic headscarf.
She later came out with a confession saying that she did not have any malafide intention, and she did not do this to attract followers. But many think that her confession is absurd, and could be extracted with force.
Under Iran’s Islamic Sharia law, women are required to wear headscarves and modest clothing in public and are banned from dancing in public. Iran has already blocked access to many social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. But millions of Iranians continue to use the sites through proxies.
Iran is still ruled by hard-line clerics who rule with archaic laws and have stifled all modes of expression and freedom. In 2014 authorities sentenced six young men and women to suspended prison terms after they appeared in a video dancing to Pharrell Williams’ song ‘Happy’.
Image Credit: Instagram
But this time, the people have come out in support of Maedeh Hojabri. Twitterati and Instagrammers have come out, putting up posts of their own dance videos with the hashtag ‘Dancingisnotacrime’.
Dancing is a mode of expression. It is an art form, that has huge connection with the masses all over the world. With this incident, Iran has highlighted its archaic regime and medieval mindset. A place where women are not allowed to dance or sing or let down their hair is definitely not in keeping with modern times.
