Hosein Ronaghi, an internet activist, says this arrest is ridiculous.
One user compared the arrest of this young girl to the government’s blindness to corruption and the obscene behavior of those close to it.
Another person, posting this film, wrote: “An Arab Muslim Palestinian father encourages his daughter not to be ashamed, to use her talent, to be free, to be released.”
Another person wrote on Twitter: “If my son asks me in 20 years, ‘Why did you have a revolution?’, I’ll tell him, ‘Son, back then dancing was forbidden. They took a 17-year-old girl on television with tears in her eyes and forced her to confess.'”
Conservative and Reformist Reactions
Some Iranian religious clerics have even complained about this arrest. Including Peymaneh Haidari Khansari, who appears to be a cleric member of the Qom seminary, wrote that a warning would have been enough for her.
Or Mohammad Reza Zaeri, who is a cleric and has long been critical of the government’s mandatory hijab policies. He, citing his old tweet, wrote: “That tweet was from a long time ago, now I add that unfortunately we do nothing about theft and plunder of the public treasury, but we do act on dancing and appearing without hijab! This is the distance between us and the Islam of the Prophet and the Commander of the Faithful!”
MohammadReza Bagheri, a conservative figure, also wrote on his Twitter: “The judicial branch probably dealt with #Maedeh_Hojbri to prevent the deviation of youth and the collapse of family foundation, would that they knew that the deviation of youth, irreligiousness, and their alienation from religion stem from not dealing with political and economic corrupt individuals, from leniency with big fish and seeing injustice dressed in religious garb.”
However, Mostafa Tajzadeh, a reformist figure, also reacted to this televised confession. He wrote: “Yesterday’s televised confessions of several teenage girls, as expected, were met with decisive condemnation by public opinion. If state media were accountable to anyone other than #the Leader, it would never have been able to continue this illegal and inhumane method that is disgusting, distresses all Iranians, and undermines the system.”
Nevertheless, Niusha Saremi, a journalist based in Washington, criticizes the objections of conservatives and reformists to this arrest in the following way: “All the objections by some to the #Maedeh_Hojbri incident are that the system acted carelessly and created unnecessary costs for itself, now the televised confession wasn’t even necessary and ultimately it’s dirt on the head of state media. That is, it’s criticism from the angle of why are you doing something that will get you attacked, Islamic Republic dear, a little slower would be nice.”
Meanwhile, some users have reacted similarly. Solmaz Ikerder, who is a journalist, posted a video of her mother dancing and wrote: “My mother said: ‘For the lost youth and youth you experienced, for the freedom and joy that are your right; I dance.'”
