Iranians Arrested For Happy Video

CNN reports:

Six people who were arrested in Iran for dancing in a YouTube video to Pharrell Williams’ song “Happy” have been freed, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said Wednesday, citing a source close to the families. The director of the video was not released, the group said. One of the six announced that she was freed. “Hi I’m back,” Reihane Taravati wrote on her Instagram account, thanking Williams and “everyone who cared about us.” Tehran Police Chief Hossein Sajedinia ordered the arrests of the three men and three women for helping make an “obscene video clip that offended the public morals and was released in cyberspace,” the Iranian Students’ News Agency reported Wednesday. Authorities forced the young people to repent on state TV. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani seemed to think differently. “#Happiness is our people’s right. We shouldn’t be too hard on behaviors caused by joy,” a tweet on his account said. It seemed to be quoting one of his comments from June 2013.

Pharrell responded on his Facebook page: “It is beyond sad that these kids were arrested for trying to spread happiness.”

RELATED: Last month an Islamist group denounced British Muslims who took part in a similar video which now has 1.6M views.