IRANIANS DANCE TO PROTEST ARREST OF TEEN

Iranians are posting videos of themselves dancing on social media to protest the arrest of a teenager whose seductive dance moves on Instagram landed her in police custody.

Maedeh Hojabri’s Instagram account has since been shut down, and she was made to appear on state television after her arrest, where she expressed remorse. But before her detention, Hojabri, who is in her late teens, reportedly posted dozens of clips of herself dancing to Iranian pop music and Western tunes.

Hojabri had been dancing in a public forum, which is frowned upon in conservative Iranian circles, and doing so without the headscarf prescribed by Iran’s clerical rulers.

After her detention Hojabri was featured in a TV program about social media, where she appeared with her face in shadow and was accused by her interviewer of posting images “that disrupt society.”

Hojabri’s apparently coerced TV appearance unleashed online reaction at home and abroad.

The Twitter hashtag #dance_so_we_dance has taken off to express support for Hojabri.

One man filmed his eyebrows dancing. Another filmed his naked foot boogeying.

Three other women who, like Hojabri, built a following on Instagram with their dance videos, have been taken into custody, according to the Asr-Iran news website.