Iran arrests six people for promoting Western dances

Four men and two women were arrested in Iran for teaching and "promoting" Western dances, mainly with Zumba classes, said a local official of the Revolutionary Guards, cited on Wednesday by the Jamejam newspaper.

"The network that was teaching and filming Western dances was identified and its members were arrested in Shahrud (north)," said Hamid Damgani, a local commander of the Revolutionary Guards, an elite army of Iran.

"The group attracted boys and girls to teach them Western dances and filmed them to upload videos on social networks like Telegram or Instagram," he added.

"They were arrested by the Revolutionary Guards while they were teaching and filming with the aim of changing people's way of life and promoting not wearing the veil," he added.

The women in the group are accused of dancing in public without a veil, which has been mandatory in Iran since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

Zumba, a mix of aerobic exercises and Latin dances, is generally practiced in sports facilities.

The teaching of Western dances is normally prohibited in Iran, but it is a poorly respected restriction.

In 2014, a group of young people who had posted a video on social media dancing to the song "Happy" by Pharrell Williams was arrested. They were sentenced to probation and lashes, but the penalty was not applied to them.