Six Iranians Arrested for Dancing to Pharrell's 'Happy'

The video (called “Happy We Are From Tehran”) features three men and three women (with uncovered heads) dancing and singing to “Happy” by Pharrell. According to AFP, it prompted the Tehran police chief to give this statement:

“After a vulgar clip which hurt public chastity was released in cyberspace, police decided to identify those involved in making that clip,” Tehran police chief Hossein Sajedinia was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

“Following a series of intelligence and police operations and after coordinating with the judiciary, all the suspects were identified and arrested.”

Intelligence and police operations! You fancy.

The New York Times says the group was arrested after they’d shared links of their videos being discussed on sites like The Huffington Post. Just last week Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that though sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are blocked in many parts of the country, “We ought to see (the Internet) as an opportunity. We must recognise our citizens’ right to connect to the World Wide Web.”

According to the Huffington Post, the video was posted because the individuals involved want people to know that “People of Tehran are happy!” Pharrell himself tweeted Tuesday night, “It’s beyond sad these kids were arrested for trying to spread happiness.”