Five young Iranian ladies who danced to Nigerian Afrobeat singer and rapper, Divine Ikubor, professionally known as Rema’s song ‘Calm Down’ have been allegedly arrested.
The video of the five girls went viral on Tuesday for dancing to Rema’s hit song without headscarves.
The Times of Israel reported that there are anxieties about their well-being for filming themselves dancing as they were arrested and forced into confessing by Iran’s authorities.
It spread widely on TikTok and other social media channels last week around International Women’s Day on March 8.
Activists, apparently from the Ekbatan area, first posted the video on Telegram and Twitter. They said authorities had been asking residents in the area if they knew the women, based on the footage, The Times of Israel said.
The campaigners claimed on Tuesday that the ladies had been imprisoned and coerced into producing an apology video.
Both dancing in public and not donning an Islamic hijab are prohibited for women in the Islamic Republic.
One of the main demands of the civil unrest that started in September after the murder of Mahsa Amini, 22, who had been detained for allegedly breaking the dress code, is the elimination of the mandatory headscarf requirement.
A video of Iranian ladies dancing to the song Calm Down by Rema and Selena Gomez in Tehran’s Ekbatan neighborhood has gone viral.
Following the five’s initial popular video, a second video of four women walking forward one at a time to apologize in full head coverings appeared on social media.
Both dancing in public and not donning an Islamic hijab are prohibited for women in the Islamic Republic.
Abolition of the obligatory headscarf rule has been one of the chief demands of the civil unrest that erupted in September after the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the dress code.
This video of Iranian girls in Tehran’s Ekbatan neighbourhood dancing unveiled to the song Calm Down by Rema and Selena Gomez has gone viral.
After the initial viral footage of the five, another video emerged on social media of four women, their heads fully covered, stepping forward one by one to express regret.
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