Intimidation, Arrest and Jail for Fashionably Incorrect in Iran

For the past decade, Iranians have known that posting social, political, or religious comments online is a risky business. Write the wrong thing and they could find themselves facing intimidation, arrest, or even a lengthy prison sentence. 

Now, however, the Islamic Republic is clamping down on a new perceived threat: dressing or behaving in a way that offends the state and “threatens” the Iranian way of life.

Since 2014, many models, celebrities, and everyday citizens have been harassed, detained, and even prosecuted for wearing clothes said to promote the “Western lifestyle.” 

Some were forced to sign pledged of “good behavior” and released on bail, while others fled Iran to escape repercussions. Several were forced to confess to their guilt on TV and beg forgiveness from the “families of martyrs.”

The new drive for dress standardization has provoked both anger and confusion. Iran has no laws that apply to people’s choice of attire, while the “Iranian Islamic lifestyle” has never been defined beyond its title. 

As part of the drive for standardization, the judiciary, Islamic Republic of Iranian Broadcasting (IRIB), and Organization of Cinema and Audiovisual Affairs – part of Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance – have all announced that they are drawing up “dress guidelines.”

 

Caught in the Spider’s Web

The first arrests for modeling on social media took place in May 2014. Dozens were detained by the Revolutionary Guards’ Center for Organized Crime in Cyberspace in two operations code-named Spider 1 and Spider 2.

On May 13, 2014, the cybercrime center announced that it had arrested 170 people, including 58 models, 51 fashion house owners and dress designers, and 59 photographers. Of these, 22 were charged as the main ringleaders. 

Many social media pages that belonged to the detainees were also blocked.

In a statement explaining its actions, the center said that the people targeted had created nearly 350 pages of “offensive” content on Facebook over the past two years, attracting large audiences. 

They were guilty of “promoting a culture of promiscuity, weakening and rejecting the institution of family, ridiculing religious values and beliefs, promoting relationships outside moral rules, and publishing the private pictures [any picture of a woman without hijab] of young women.” 

The center also accused them of making money by “deceiving female members of Facebook.”

“We cannot sit on our hands and allow prostitution, vulgarity, and forbidden acts to spread,” Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, Tehran’s prosecutor at the time, said in support of the “Spider” operations. 

Among those arrested were famous names in Iranian fashion, including Elnaz Golrokh, Hamid Fadaei, Shabnam Molavi, Dana Nik, Donya Moghadam, Melika Zamani, and Niloofar Behboudi. 

Some of them, including Fadaei and Golrokh, left Iran after they were released on bail.

“In the past two years, a lot of good things have been done in the fight against hair salons and fashion workshops related to modeling,” Jafari said on May 15, 2016.

“These days, the enemy tries to invade cultural and social areas in two ways: sexual and financial temptations to infiltrate and influence young minds. For this reason, we must take a robust approach to fighting threats in cyberspace.”

In past years, state agencies have invested heavily in “Islamic fashion” shows, but these have often attracted ridicule. They have rarely attracted large audiences, and have failed to prevent young Iranians embracing more “Western” clothing and lifestyles.

 

The Unhappy “Happy” Video

In May 2014, Iranian authorities arrested six young men and women who had produced the Tehran version of Pharrell Williams’ song “Happy.” 

In the video clip posted on YouTube and shared extensively on social media, they could be seen dancing on Tehran rooftops and in apartment blocks while singing the hit song. 

They were released after a few days, but not before they were forced to repent on TV.

The chief of Tehran’s police force, Hossein Sajedinia, also appeared on TV, warning the younger generation not to fall into traps set by “ruthless, immoral” people who benefit from making music videos like this one. 

He boasted that all the participants in the “Happy” clip had been identified within two hours and arrested within six.

 

Beyond Tehran

In June 2016, the Guards detained 12 people in Shiraz, the capital of Fars province, as part of “Operation Spider 2.” All were aged between 19 and 32, and worked as fashion models, fashion designers, and boutique owners. 

The detainees were accused of promoting “obscenity” and “immoral acts” online, and of facilitating moral corruption and prostitution through publishing obscene photographs, taking part in fashion shows that advertised Western dress, and promoting Western “nudity” culture.

In December 2016, they all received prison sentences ranging from five months to six years, though it is unclear whether the sentences were carried out or overturned later by the appellate court.

According to their lawyer Mahmoud Taravat, they were also banned from engaging in “specific professions” related to the fashion industry and prohibited from leaving Iran for two years after their release. 

Six of the female defendants were banned from designing, creating, or exhibiting clothing for two years after their release.

In the same year, on October 3, three women and three men were arrested in Mashhad by the Revolutionary Guards’ Intelligence Unit for “publishing obscene photos,” “promoting corruption,” and “promoting Western lifestyle.”

 

Dancing is Not a Crime

In July 2018, a young woman called Maedeh Hojabry was arrested for posting a video of herself dancing in her bedroom. Later, through tears, she was forced to apologize for the clips on state-run TV.

The persecution of Hojabry and two other young women — Shadab and Alnaz Ghasemi — started in May 2018, when their Instagram pages were blocked. 

Anybody in Iran who tried to access their pages was confronted with the following message: “This page has been blocked by the order of the Honorable Judicial Authority for publishing criminal content.”

But the news of their arrest only emerged on July 6, when the three women appeared on TV and begged forgiveness for their transgressions.

After the TV program aired, thousands of Iranians started tweeting in support of the three women and posting videos of themselves dancing. Their message: Dancing is not a crime. 

“I wanted to show these kids that they are not alone,” one woman who posted a video told IranWire. Her video has been shared hundreds of time and received thousands of likes. 

“I wanted to tell the Islamic Republic that if they think dancing is a crime then we all are criminals. How long must we tremble in fear for every small, natural thing? Let us live.”

Other young men and women were arrested for publishing similar clips and were also forced to repent on TV. None had access to a lawyer and it was never explained what law they had broken.

 

Unconventional and Unashamed

Despite these attempts at intimidation, underground fashion and modeling in Iran still continues. In fact, “Western” influences seem to be spreading. 

Recently, well-known actresses have attracted attention for their attire at public events. One young actress, Matin Sotoudeh, was summoned to appear before an “Islamic guidance” court after photographs of her at a film screening on October 13 went viral.

State media criticized Sotoudeh for wearing a white flowing blouse and a loose-fitting headscarf to a screening of the film “Fooling Around,” prompting many religious and political hardliners to vilify her on social media.

Three days later, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance was summoned to parliament to discuss its newly established “celebrity council,” set up to review the behavior and dress of celebrities. 

At the same time, Iran’s Cinema Organization said it would be publishing guidelines for what constituted “acceptable” attire. 

Through these regulations, the authorities hope to prevent controversial public arrests of high-profile actresses and celebrities, which may attract international opprobrium. However, the specifics of the guidelines remain unclear. 

After Sotoudeh’s court appearance, Sadegh Tabatabai Nejad, the head of Iran’s Committee on Culture, said the new “celebrity council” was already “working to pass rules and regulations regarding these cases.” 

Masoud Najafi, the head of public relations at the Cinema Organization, confirmed that guidelines were being prepared for figures in film, sport, and the arts who attend public events. 

Referring to the “unconventional attire” of some celebrities, Najafi said, “It is obvious that behavior outside of our cultural norms is unacceptable.”

 

Fighting the “Cultural Invasion”

In a 2016 speech, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke of the growing problem of “cultural invasion” in Iran.

“What I have been warning against for years has now been borne out by incontrovertible reality: the activities by hundreds of audio, visual, and written media outlets on the internet around the world, with the specific goal of influencing the minds and the behavior of the Iranian people,” he said.

The effort to impose a uniform lifestyle and dress code on Iranians has been a constant feature of the Islamic Republic since it came to power four decades ago. However, the methods used have changed over time. 

In the past, control was mainly enforced through morality patrols on the streets. Security officers targeted women for the color of their lipstick, the length of their manteaux, or their hair showing under their scarves. They arrested men for wearing short-sleeve shirts or tight pants. 

They loaded the alleged perpetrators into vans and took them to police stations, where they were insulted, lashed, fined, and sometimes thrown in jail.

Since early 2010, there have been fewer patrols, and people have felt more at liberty to choose their attire. While security forces continue to ambush and detain people on the street, punishments are less frequent and severe than they were a decade ago.

In recent years, it seems, the battle has moved from the street to the online sphere. However, far from asserting its authority, the regime’s aggressive tactics suggest it is increasingly desperate and confused about how to address Western influence in social media. 

 

The Iranian Republic continues to crack down on models, actresses, sports figures, and others in the media and fashion industries, but lasting success is proving to be more and more elusive.

 

Related Coverage:

 

Iran’s New Council for Celebrities Flexes its Muscles, October 18, 2019

The Arrest of Iran’s Instagram “Zombie Star”, October 8, 2019

Police Target "Las Vegas-Style" Fashion Show, March 4, 2019

Supermodel Says Farewell to the Islamic Republic, April 18, 2018

The Battle Against Models and “Cultural Infiltration”, March 10, 2017

Crackdown on Fashion Continues, December 6, 2016

Iran Continues its Crackdown on Models and Fashion Photographers, November 16, 2016

Kim Kardashian, the Infiltrator, May 16, 2016

Revolutionary Guards Launch “Spider” Attacks against Models on Instagram, March 17, 2016

Iran’s New Criminals: Fashion Models, February 2, 2016

The Trials and Tribulations of an Iranian Fashion Model, June 8, 2015

The Oxymoron of Islamic Fashion, April 30, 2015

The Islamic Catwalk, April 2014