Can sharing photos on Instagram be punishable by law? In some cases, the answer is yes. A teenager from Iran was arrested after it was discovered that she shared films on which she dances.
In Iran, a group of young people was arrested based on the content made available on Instagram. Among her were, among others the girl who published dance videos. The identity of the popular dancer is so far the only officially confirmed among all detainees.
Detention of Maedeh Hojrabi
The 18-year-old detained currently has over 72,000 followers on Instagram , but BuzzFeed News reports that around 600,000 people were watching his account before the blockade.
On her profile you can find movies where she dances to Iranian and pop music in her room. The girl is in trouble because during the recording she was not wearing jihab , which is required in an authoritarian country when she is shown in public. Her movements were also considered immoral, and Islam is forbidden to dance in front of men who are not close relatives. It was these offenses that caused her to be arrested.
Iranian television broadcast a video last Friday in which the girl confesses to breaking moral norms and declares that this was not her intention and she did not want to persuade other people to do anything wrong. It is not known, however, whether it was a voluntary statement or whether the girl made it under duress.
Support from Amnesty International
An international organization for the prevention of human rights violations carried out #DancingIsNotACrime in the streets of London , in which Iranians support Maedeh Hojrabi. Social media has been flooded by campaign-related content and protests. Many men and women have published on their video profiles in which they present dance in many places and tagged them with the said hashtag to reach even more people and show solidarity with the 18-year-old.
For most Internet users, it seems unbelievable to arrest someone for dancing. The online community criticizes the Iranian government for such actions, especially since Maedeh is not the only person detained.
However, this is not the first such case – in 2014 a six-year prison sentence and 91 lashes were sentenced to six young Iranians who made available on a video network showing how on the streets and roofs of Tehran they were dancing to the then hit “Happy” Pharella Williams .
What’s next?
Foreign media say that the girl was released from detention after paying the deposit . This will certainly not solve the problem, which has attracted the attention of many people and organizations from around the world or buysocialfollowers. Especially that because of this situation the #DancingIsNotACrime action was initiated.
Interestingly, access to sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube is blocked and their users living in Iran using a VPN to bypass the block. The Associated Press reports that Iranian police are blocking similar Instagram accounts, and the government is considering blocking access to Instagram.