(Paris) Concern grew on Tuesday over the situation of five young Iranian women, who had filmed themselves dancing without a headscarf on a world success, after reports of their arrest and forced confessions.
In this video, the five young women dance in “crop tops” revealing their bellies, their long hair undone, on the song calm downa languorous and sensual Afrobeats song by Nigerian singer Rema, who became global after the duet recorded with American star Selena Gomez.
“To all the beautiful women who fight for a better world, you are an inspiration, I sing for you and I dream with you,” Rema said while retweeting the video of the young women’s dance.
The video, shot in Ekbatan, a residential neighborhood in Tehran, went viral on TikTok and other social media last week around the date of International Women’s Day, March 8.
The Ekbatan district, where a middle class of young executives and families lives, has been the scene of numerous actions against the government for a month.
Telegram and Twitter accounts with the “Shahrak Ekbatan” hashtags that first posted the video reported that Iranian authorities inspected CCTV footage to identify the young women.
On Tuesday, these accounts claimed that the young women had been arrested, detained for two days, and forced to record a video in which they express their regret.
A video emerged on social media showing four women, their heads veiled, and coming forward one after another to express their regrets for dancing on the video.
AFP was unable to verify the authenticity or the circumstances in which this latest video was shot.
Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iranian law has required all women to wear a veil covering their head and neck, and concealing their hair.
Iran is rocked by protests sparked by the September 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
This young Kurd had been arrested by the morality police for an alleged violation of the dress code for women.
After the protests began, more and more women were seen bareheaded in public or removing their headscarves during demonstrations.
But few are those prosecuted by the Judicial Authority, which however announced on January 10 that it wanted to reapply a law providing for severe penalties for people who do not respect the obligation to wear the veil.