Maedeh Hojabri, an 18-year-old Instagram star in Iran who has almost 70,000 followers, was detained last week after she shared videos of herself dancing on the social media platform. State TV broadcast a video on Friday in which Maedeh Hojabri, 18-year-old gymnast, acknowledged breaking moral norms while insisting that was not her intention, and that she was only trying to gain more followers. Shabooneh, a local news website, said Hojabri and three other individuals were detained on similar charges in recent weeks before being released on bail. In April, the judiciary arrested a senior Iranian official after a video posted online that showed young boys and girls dancing in public in the northeastern holy Shi'ite city of Mashhad for undermining public decency". Before her account was blocked by Iranian authorities, Hojabri had posted around 300 videos on her Instagram account – in which she appeared without wearing the compulsory Islamic headscarf. Her performances had thousands of followers on various accounts with her name on them, ranging from 12,000 to 66,000 followers. Iranian media outlets reported that authorities were looking into banning more Instagram accounts or shutting down access to the site completely. Iran has already blocked access to many social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the Telegram messaging app. As the BBC notes, six Iranian girls were given sentences of a year in prison and 91 lashes after they were convicted in 2014 of positing videos of themselves dancing to the Pharrell Williams song “Happy.”

It’s not clear what sentence Hojabri might face for her dancing videos but she has been reportedly released on bail along with the other three women.
Iranian women post videos of themselves dancing to protest the arrest of Instagram blogger Maedeh Hojabri.