Iranians Dance in Solidarity With “Uncle Sadegh”

Iranians are posting videos of themselves dancing in solidarity with an old man, dubbed “Uncle Sadegh,” whose Instagram page was shut down by the authorities after a video clip of him dancing on the street in the northern city of Rasht had gone viral.

🎞️ Iranians are posting videos of themselves dancing in solidarity with an old man, dubbed “Uncle Sadegh,” whose Instagram page was shut down by the authorities after a video clip of him dancing on the street in the northern city of Rasht had gone viral.#truth #Iran pic.twitter.com/BdxcqfN1D8

— IranWire (@IranWireEnglish) December 11, 2023

In the videos, men, women and girls can be seen dancing on the streets and indoors in a show of defiance toward the Islamic Republic’s security apparatus.

Last week, a message appeared on the Instagram page of 70-year-old Sadegh Booghi reading, "This page was blocked due to the publication of criminal content."

Police said that “12 Instagram page managers” were arrested for sharing the footage showing Booghi dancing.

The man had 128,000 followers.

🎞️ The authorities in #Iran have taken down the Instagram page of a pensioner after a video clip of him dancing on the street in the northern city of #Rasht had gone viral.#truth pic.twitter.com/UZcKns5OEZ

— IranWire (@IranWireEnglish) December 8, 2023

This was not the first time the Islamic Republic’s institutions have targeted social media users for posting images of people dancing and having fun.