Iran Arrests 6 For Teaching Zumba Classes

Maureen Collins | August 11, 2017
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Four men and two women were arrested by the Iranian police in July after officials said they "sought to change lifestyles and promote a lack of hijab." 

Their crime? Areobic dancing. 

The six Iranians were teaching Zumba classes, a popular Latin American aerobic dance workout. The commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that "the members of a network teaching and filming Western dances have been identified and arrested." 

The term "network" makes the accused sound like a sleeper cell, and not simply a group of modern jazzercise instructors. But for the Iranian religious police, dancing is a serious offense. Women must cover their heads with a hijab in public, and dancing with the opposite sex is strictly against the law. 

According to the BBC, in 2014 a group of young Iranians received 91 lashes each for posting a YouTube video of themselves dancing to the Pharrell William's song "Happy."  The outlook for the six Zumba instructors does not look any happier. 

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