Iranian students in graduation dance video threatened with prosecution

Female students in Iran have been threatened with prosecution after they created a celebratory dance video following their graduation and posted it online.

The video, which has now gone viral, shows around 10-12 female students from Al-Zahra University in Bushehr, southwest Iran, dancing and at times riding a motorbike, whilst wearing graduation gowns and mortar boards.

Zahra Haijani, the university’s president, has now threatened the students with legal action, calling their behaviour “illegal activity”. She said that the video had been created “without coordination and obtaining permission from the university”.

She added: “The student who made this film has been identified, and will be held accountable for this work.”

She further assured the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) that Al-Zahra University had not held a graduation ceremony since the Covid-19 pandemic, ostensibly due to a lack of funds.

There’s no specific law banning them from dancing or riding motorcycles. This is an attempt to break the strong student movement in Iran

Hossein Raeesi, Iranian human rights lawyer

Human rights groups, however, have connected this episode with a wider pattern of student suppression in the Islamic Republic. Protests by students have continued intermittently since September 2022, when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was beaten by Iranian security forces, and later died, for allegedly breaking the country’s dress-code laws.

Hossein Raeesi, an Iranian human rights lawyer who currently resides in Canada, linked the response to the video with the Iranian government’s concerns over what has been dubbed the Women, Life, Freedom protests.

“There’s no specific law banning them from dancing or riding motorcycles. This is an attempt to break the strong student movement in Iran,” he said, adding that the movement was “stronger than ever”.

Hijabs have been compulsory for women and girls over the age of nine in Iran since 1981, and recent protests by Iranian women have focused on their right to their own lifestyle choices.

We continue to defy their rules. University presidents are just mouthpieces of the Islamic Republic

Iranian student

Though all students in the graduation video were wearing hijabs, Jasmin Ramsey, Deputy Director of the Centre of Human Rights in Iran, explained that the issue went beyond mandatory headscarves.

She said: “By fearlessly expressing themselves through dance and riding motorcycles in public, they directly challenged the repressive diktats imposed by the state on women’s behaviour.

“This viral video stands as an indomitable testament to the unwavering resilience of Iranian women, especially the younger generation.”

An Iranian student, speaking anonymously to The Guardian, said that: “This video shows that all the suspensions and banning has done nothing in discouraging us from celebrating our achievements with music and dance.

“We continue to defy their rules. University presidents are just mouthpieces of the Islamic Republic. There’s nothing illegal in celebrating, nor is protesting illegal.”