IRANIANS SADLY OUTRAGED

Iranians outraged over arrest of teenager/student for Instagram dancing clips.

ANKARA : Iranians on social media mocked clerical rulers on Monday after the judiciary arrested a  teenager/student girl for posting on Instagram videos of herself dancing in her room.

Critics of the arrest of gymnast Maedeh Hojabri, 18, used the hashtag #Dancingisnotacrime and Iranian women posted videos of themselves dancing in public.

"You will be laughed at if you will tell people anywhere in the world that 17 and 18 year-old girls are arrested for their dance, happiness and beauty on charges of spreading indecency, while child rapists and others are free,'' wrote Iranian blogger and political dissident Hossein Rinaghi-Maleki.

Iranian state TV aired a video in which she apologised for ''breaking moral norms" but said any breach was not her intention.

Some Iranian news website  reported  three other people had been arrested on similar charges  in the past weeks. The reports said they were released  on bail.

I had no bad intentions............I do not want to encourage others to do the same........I did not work with a network,"  a crying Hojabri told  TV on Friday.

Before her account was  blocked by Iranian authorities, Hojabri had posted around 300 videos  on her  Instagram account on which she appeared without wearing the compulsory Islamic headscarf.

Under Iran's Islamic  Sharia Law, women are required to wear headscarves and modest clothing in public and are banned from dancing in public.

The potential charges against Hojabri were not specified, but she is likely to be accused of running afoul of Islamic codes of behaviour that call for modesty in attire and behaviour.

"Art is the language of the sou, highest of the hopes, not a crime, said Twitter user @  samzglam.

Sharing her own dancing clip @ Marun_1 said  : usually I don't share pictures and videos but today is an important day. [Reuters}.