Watch: An Iranian teenager was arrested for posting dance videos on Instagram
In several videos, Maedeh Hojabri was also seen without the obligatory headscarf.
Teenage dancer, Maedeh Hojabri, was arrested in Iran. She used to record dance videos in her bedroom and upload them to her instagram with 600K followers.#مائده_هژبرى pic.twitter.com/3EDVR9veV3
— Negar (@NegarMortazavi) July 8, 2018
Maedeh Hojabri would be an ordinary teenager just about anywhere in the world. The 18-year-old gymnast got famous on Instagram for posting dance videos and gained tens of thousands of followers – nothing we haven’t heard before.
The teenager, however, was detained by the Iranian police for those same videos. On Friday, according to the Associated Press, State TV in Iran broadcast a video in which Hojabri acknowledged breaking moral norms while insisting that was not her intention – she was only trying to gain more followers. As of now, it’s unclear whether the teen dancer made her statement under duress.
According to AP, Hojabri had posted around 300 videos on her Instagram account, many of which showed her dancing in both Iranian and Western styles in the privacy of her bedroom. In several videos, she chose to appear without wearing the obligatory headscarf. Though the original account was shut down, her videos were posted online by other accounts with several thousand followers each. You can watch them below.
AP also reported that according to Masih Alinejad, an Iranian activist, Hojabri was later released on bail. She wasn’t the only to be detained on similar charges either. According to Shabooneh, a local news website, three other individuals were also released on bail after receiving similar charges.
And that’s not all. Iranian police also said they plan to shut down similar accounts on Instagram. The judiciary is also considering blocking access to the site, just as has been done with Facebook, Twitter and other social media websites and apps.
Several people on social media have spoken up in support of Hojabri, and against the overall situation in Iran.
اینجا بام رامسر، من با حمایت و همراهی همسرم میرقصم. با زندان و تهدید و تحقیر نمیتوانند سبک زندگی خودشان را به آدمها تحمیل کرد. لطفا شما هم به هشتگ #برقص_تا_برقصیم بپیوندید
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) July 8, 2018
We Iranian are dancing to protest the arrest of #MaedehHijabri and other teenagers.
Dancing is not a crime pic.twitter.com/A1ZjjeGMqo
she is an Iranian girl , she got arrested for uploading her dance video to instagram !
— सुराख़ अली हबीबुल्ला (@alisurakh) July 8, 2018
RELIGION OF FREEDOM pic.twitter.com/nz5EyClCk0
The Islamist regime in Iran arrested #MaedehHojabri for uploading her dance videos on Instagram and then she was released on bail. Her sentence will come soon, and often, the persecutor harshly sentences women in Iran.#IranRegimeChange #DiscriminationAgainstWomen pic.twitter.com/OSWe53WHnU
— Iranian American (@IranLionness) July 7, 2018
#MaedehHojabri is a teenage girl who was uploading her own dance in #Instagram! Because of it Police arrested her! She is a teenager who is in jail right now Because of dancing!
— Nahid Seif 🕕 (@NahidSeif) July 7, 2018
In #Iran all the peoples are criminals because they don’t want to live Islamic style.#مائده_هژبری pic.twitter.com/LeLCIuZyK3
#مائده_هژبری
— Farhad Mottaghi (@farhad_mottaghi) July 7, 2018
As long as you live in #Iran you are not safe. That’s the reason most of artist had immigrated. #MaedehHojabri is a teenage girl who dances really good, because of her dancing art and uploading in #Instagram she has been imprisoned.#SaveIranians#IranRegimeChange pic.twitter.com/xMdaeOD3y6
Maedeh is one of Iranian dancer she got arrested by government because of her dance video in Instagram . same things that you and your friend do every day.can you support her ? @AmandaCerny #مائده_هژبری pic.twitter.com/jRwdTRpxLt
— لَهو و لَعب (@russell_lunatic) July 7, 2018
#Iran just arrested a teenage girl #MaedehHojabri because of her dance and performances video. Before 40 years ago, dance were taught in school in Iran but after the Islamic revolution 1979 it became a big crime! pic.twitter.com/n68l7enKx1
— Arash Sigarchi 🇦🇷 (@sigarchi) July 7, 2018
Women in Iran have been protesting against Iran’s strict modesty laws for years now through dance. Many of them have been performing dance forms like the Australian shuffle on the streets (video below).
In 2014, an Iranian woman protested against Iran’s strict laws by dancing publicly on the Tehran metro (video below). According to BBC’s video description, this was just months after a group of young Iranians were arrested for dancing to Pharrell William’s Happy.