Triple breach of taboo

Iranian women arrested after dancing at martyrs’ cemetery

The young Iranian women were arrested by the police for their dance performance.(Bild: x.com/IranIntl_En)

Two young Iranian women have been arrested for dancing to a Persian rap song at the Martyrs' Cemetery in Tehran. According to the police, the two "inappropriately dressed" women had recorded their dance performance on their cell phones and posted it on social networks. Shortly afterwards, they were identified, arrested and handed over to the law, according to the police.

According to the police, the incident took place a few days ago and sparked fierce protests from the families of those buried there. The Martyrs' Cemetery in the capital Tehran, where those who died in the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88) are buried, is considered one of the holiest sites in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Here you can see the video that led to the arrest of the young women: 

Triple breach of taboo in ultra-conservative Iran
The two women had broken several taboos of the Islamic ruling system with their action. They appeared in public without the obligatory headscarf, danced in the cemetery next to the graves of the war dead and posted the video on social media, which is banned in the country. They are now facing a prison sentence.

The motive of the two is still unclear, but observers assume it was a protest action against the Islamic system. Since the women's movement of 2022 at the latest, many women in major cities have increasingly defied regulations such as the strict Islamic dress code. The Iranian parliament wants to take action against the new wave with new laws, but even these threats have so far been ineffective.