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Ticking off Tehran: 5 teen girls detained by Iran's morality police for dancing to Selena Gomez in public

The girls were imprisoned for two days and were forced to make a confession video expressing regret for their acts

IRAN: Five Iranian girls were arrested in yet another defiance of the country's modest laws. The girls danced in public without headscarves, which goes against the country's modesty regulations. The teenage girls were caught after a few days and were reportedly forced to apologize on camera by security officials.

In the viral video shared on International Women's Day recreating a popular TikTok dance to the song 'Calm Down' by Rema and Selena Gomez, girls can be seen wearing crop tops and baggy jeans. The dancing teacher for Iran International shared the video on Instagram, and it soon gained popularity as a sign of defiance against the nation's hard-line Islamic government, BuzzFeed News reported.

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Girls were imprisoned for two days

According to Iran's modest laws, women are not allowed to dance in public and they are obliged to wear headscarves and loose-fitting clothes. The Islamic Republic's severe regulations make it illegal and punitive for women to dance in public. Authorities allegedly searched for the kids over the following several days; they are believed to be in Ekbatan, a town west of Tehran, and the video of their dancing was taken down. According to the Twitter account @Shahrak Ekbatan, which follows news in Ekbatan, the girls were imprisoned for two days and had to make a confession video expressing regret for their acts.

The news of the girls’ arrest was met with a backlash from young Iranians, and more people posted their own dance videos to the song in defiance of the regime. The tweet by @shahrak_ekbatan said the girls were forced to confess that they had made a “mistake” and sign a statement at a police station that they wouldn’t do it again – a procedure used by Iranian police for misdemeanors and “moral” crimes for first-timers. 

Mahsam Amani death

This arrest came a few months after a wide protest following the murder of Mahsa Amini in September 2022, after she was imprisoned by the so-called "morality police" for reportedly wearing an inappropriate hijab, there were months of fervent protests against Iranian police violence towards women. These rallies were in response to Mahsa's reported detention. 

Since then, Iranian security personnel has frequently employed harsh measures to attempt to put an end to protests, even going so far as to detain youngsters. Youngsters detained during and after protests had had body electric shocks, had their heads held underwater, had been sexually abused, and had been threatened with rape, Amnesty International stated in a report. According to the human rights organization, many kids weren't freed until they signed "repentance" papers and vowed to abstain from future demonstrations.