Seven men and a woman who recorded a video where you see them dancing to the song "Happy" by Pharrell Williams in Iran were sentenced to suspended jail sentences and whipping his lawyers reported Friday.
For young Iranians attracted international attention when they were arrested in May for participating in a production that Iranian hardliners considered indecent. In the video you see men and women, none of them wearing the obligatory veil, dancing together with glasses and casual clothes in alleys and rooftops of Tehran.
The lawyer said Farshid Rofugaran defendants received suspended sentences of six months in prison and 91 lashes each. He said the jail was punishment for acting in the video and lashes for ignoring Islamic nomas.
Suspended sentences mean that the verdicts against the defendants not apply unless they commit other crimes and found guilty in the next three years.
"My clients acted in a video and their actions are contrary to the religious requirements, but are not crimes that deserve legal punishment. Saying prayers is a religious obligation in Islam, but no one goes to jail for not doing it," said Friday to the Associated Press.
The lawyer explained that one of the defendants also received another six-month suspended sentence for possession of alcohol, which is forbidden in Iran. He said one of his clients had industrial alcohol-what you need for your work which is allowed- but had no alcohol to drink.
The eight were arrested in May but released shortly after.
The laws in the Islamic Republic forbid women dancing in public or leave home without covering their hair with the hijab.
Their arrests were heavily criticized in May. Williams himself said on Twitter that "it was very sad that these guys were arrested for trying to promote happiness."
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