As the Islamic Republic continues its harsh crackdown on dissidents and protesters after Mahsa Amini died under the custody of the Iranian morality police in September 2022, many Iranians are relentless in finding ways to continue their fight against the regime. They discovered a new way to fight against the country’s theocratic government: singing and dancing.

Iranians Dance In Streets As Civil Disobedience To Clerical Rule | Iran International https://t.co/fWvq3e2GD4

— Yves Bomati (@YvesBomati) December 12, 2023

It may seem unbelievable. But in recent days, many Iranians have been posting videos of themselves singing and dancing on social media in support of an elderly man who was arrested for simply dancing and singing and posting it on the Internet.

The elderly man, a fishmonger in his sixties named Sadegh Bagheri (aka Boughi), became an instant Instagram celebrity in recent months after videos of him singing folk songs and dancing at the bazaar in the city of Rasht, a Caspian coastal city in northern Iran, went viral on social media.

In the northern city of Rasht, Iran, the Islamic regime arrested 12 individuals and warned of business closures for a group of men publicly dancing and singing so just imagine what the regime does to Iranian women. #IRGCterroristspic.twitter.com/L70HBwkPyE

— Mooniter (@Mooniter) December 5, 2023

His dance and songs attracted the attention of people who often circled him and his fishmonger friends, clapped to his music, and sometimes joined Bagheri and danced with him.

Last week, the Iranian police did not only imprison Bagheri but also many Instagram influencers in Rasht for uploading Bagheri’s videos. Authorities also took over the accounts of these individuals, removed all content, and posted a notice saying that the accounts’ activities had been aborted for “criminal content.”

After the Iranian authorities shut down Bagheri’s page and the accounts of Instagram influencers who uploaded his videos, Iranians immediately fought back by posting tens of videos on social media, showing them dancing in parks and streets to the same tune to show their solidarity with Bagheri.

A group of women and girls in Iran filmed a video of themselves dancing in solidarity with “Sadegh Booghi,” a retiree whose Instagram page with 128,000 followers was shut down by authorities after a video clip of him dancing on the street in the northern city of Rasht went viral.… pic.twitter.com/Sc5fLJTF0K

— IranHumanRights.org (@ICHRI) December 9, 2023

The deputy police commander of Gilan Province, Brigadier-General Hossein Hassanpour, told the media that the police struck down Bagheri’s page and accounts of other influencers because the distribution of videos of Bagheri’s dance in the bazaar of Rasht in social media had “violated public morals” and “broke norms.” He added that four shops involved in the singing and dancing were forced to close down.

Many religious fundamentalists in Iran, who hold important positions in the country’s theocratic government, consider dancing as debauchery and, therefore, falls under the category of entirely unacceptable behavior. They also have close ties with political hardliners and object to most music, especially lively pop music, usually associated with dance. 

This is what civil disobedience looks like in Iran: singing and dancing in public.

I dedicate #InternationalHumanRightsDay to #SadeghBoughi, an Iranian pensioner who was arrested for the “crime” of singing and dancing in public.

The Islamofascist Ayatollahs forced him to delete… pic.twitter.com/CvIPxfXuxh

— Goldie Ghamari, MPP | (@gghamari) December 10, 2023

Several Iranians have pointed out the hypocrisy of the authorities in Iran, claiming that they did not take legal action against officials in the same city involved in a same-sex scandal or even object to the country’s state broadcaster employing celebrities who lived lifestyles that are completely against the odds with the morality the Islamic Republic is proclaiming. Instead, they attack ordinary people and arrest those like the “happy old man” for simply dancing outside his shop, claiming that the country’s morality is under attack.

You gotta love their spirit and bravery!

— Tino (Hedersord) (@hedersordet) December 10, 2023

A commentary in the Iranian reformist newspaper Ham-Mihan newspaper argued that a “single entity” is responsible for the crackdown that is happening in Iran against ordinary Iranians, such as the arrest of the “happy old [dancing] man,” the Mashhad subway CCTV scandal, and Tehran subway “horror tunnels.”

The commentary also added that by suppressing ordinary Iranians, this “single entity” has control over all institutions in Iran and is sending a message to everyone in Iran, clear and without any reservation, that it can tell people what they are allowed and not allowed to do.