Iranian women among 36 arrested for posting 'immoral images'

Iran on Monday  arrested dozens of people in fresh crackdowns on models and associated colleagues posting “immoral images” online, Associated Press news agency reported.

Iranian media reports said earlier this week that officials in Bandar Abbas city arrested eight women and 36 other people in the photography, beauty salons, and wedding businesses who used Instagram to share what they considered indecent images and clips.

Police said they were “damaging public virtue through the organized spreading of anti-cultural” activities, according to the AP.

Earlier this month, authorities arrested 18 years old Maedeh Hojabri for posting dance videos on Instagram.

State TV broadcast a video in which Maedeh Hojabri, 18, conceded that she might have broken moral norms but it was her intention.

Hjabari, who has thousands of followers on the photosharing app, is said to have posted around 300 videos on her account, many of which showed her dancing.

Iran has blocked Facebook, Twitter and other social media, but many Iranians access them through proxies and VPNs.